


The Avengers Revised Edition

by AdeenBanner



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-04 21:46:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 27,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdeenBanner/pseuds/AdeenBanner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My version of The Avengers with my original character and a few change of plot lines. </p><p>Introducing for the first time on this site, Adeen Callum O'Sullivan</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Recruiting a Mutant  
I sat on a park bench with a book in my hand. I tried to read but I was too worried about my boyfriend Clint. He hadn’t called me for a while. I knew I should have gone on that mission to help with Dr. Selvig’s work on the Tesseract, but Nick kept me off the mission saying I needed to take it easy and lay low due to the board’s thoughts on mutants. Nick would have allowed me on the mission if it hadn’t been for the board forcing me to not participate in S.H.I.E.L.D. for a while. That really pissed me off. I hated being treated differently just because I was born this way. I had been in S.H.I.E.L.D. longer than most of those yahoos they call agents and I was getting pushed away because I wasn’t normal. I then felt a hand land on my shoulder. I jumped and looked up to find Nick standing there looking down at me with his one good eye. I smiled and jumped up, giving my adopted father a hug. Nick gave me a weak smile and returned the hug. I pulled away from the hug, sensing he was bothered by something and that he was about to tell me bad news. My body tensed up and I became worried and serious.   
“What happened?” I asked in a serious tone.  
“The Tesseract has been stolen and Clint…has been compromised…”   
I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me. It was hard to breath all of a sudden. I sat back down on the park bench and tried to breathe. I couldn’t believe what Nick was telling me. How could this happen to Clint? He was one of the top agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Sure he could be sarcastic and didn’t know when to shut up sometimes but how could this happen to him? I sensed Nick had sat next to me and wrap an arm around me. I was not about to cry in front of my boss. Being a retired Marine and working with Logan on the X-Men team, you don’t give in to bad news in front of people. You do not show your emotions in front of your enemy or team. This was a key thing to help me through my annoying power of empathy I was given along with a few other mutant gifts.   
“What went down?” I asked trying to make my voice sound completely unchanged by the news.  
“Loki, Thor’s step-brother, appeared out of a portal the Tesseract created, he killed a lot of agents, then brainwashed Hawkeye and Selvig.”  
“Do we still have the cube?”   
“No, they escaped with it…we’re reopening the Avengers Initiative…”  
I was completely shocked by his last statement. Reopening the Avengers Initiative? I remember we closed that down due to the board’s feelings to “freaks of nature”. I looked at Fury with confusion and suspicion in my eyes.   
“But…I thought we shut that down?” I interrogated, very confused by the director’s decision.   
“We did but Loki has declared war on Earth and we need heroes to protect it from his plans.”  
“What do you want me to do? Go recruit someone? Remain on the sidelines?”  
“No…I’m recruiting you to be on the Avengers…” Nick slowly told me.   
I’m pretty sure my eyes grew wide. I was completely shocked and I started shaking a little. Why would they want a mutant on the team? Wouldn’t that cause an up rise? I was sure all the agents were going to be pissed off about it but I was used to it by now. No one really knew about Nick and I’s relationship, except Phil Coulson and Maria Hill but they weren’t bothered by it what so ever. Nick didn’t treat me any different when we were working. So this just freaked me out a little that he was actually choosing me for this job.  
“Wait…what? Why me?”  
“You have what it takes to be an Avenger, you have the abilities, the skills, and the attitude for it.”  
“You didn’t give any of the chosen members any of my information did you?” I asked, I really didn’t want a group of strangers knowing about my messed up past. I began to become rather nervous.   
“No, only gave ‘em what they needed to know. The rest is sealed. Here’s your copy of each of the team members. Complete history of them all. We’re heading out tomorrow. I’ll have a car at your place at 7am. That’ll give you time to pack and start looking over the files. We will debrief you tomorrow. You in?”  
He handed me a sealed folder. I still couldn’t believe that he was actually recruiting me to be on the Avengers. How could I pass up an offer this good?   
“Hell yea I’m in.” I answered him.  
He smiled and laughed a little at my eagerness. We both stood up then. He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked down at me with his good eye and smiled. I smiled warmly up at him.  
“We’ll get him back, agent, I can assure you of that.”  
“I know we will.” I agreed trying to remain calm.   
He gave me one more hug before walking away to a parked black SUV. I watched him leave then started walking back to my New York apartment, only two blocks away from Central Park. I wanted so badly to get home, get packed, and go over those files and get Clint back. I couldn’t help but fear what Loki was doing to him. I had to fight the horrific thoughts that were swimming in my mind. I finally made it back to the apartment and went up the six flight of stairs I had to climb to get to my home.


	2. Shocking News

I unlocked the door to my apartment and walked inside. I took off my jacket and hung it over the chair and took my phone out of my pocket, putting it down on the counter along side my book. I plopped down on the couch, taking my cowboy boots off. I looked over at a picture of my best friend Bruce and I. I missed him a lot. Ever since his accident, he’s been on the run from the military and government. I took a deep breath, suddenly feeling forlorn.   
Great…I thought I had gotten over this by now… I thought to myself.  
I placed the file on my coffee table and opened it to have holographic images and video footage pop up. I lay on my back feeling extremely depressed and just stared at the screens. One video in particular caught my eye and it shocked me so much I feel off the couch and landed on my ass. I quickly got up and fixed my glasses, looking at the screen. It was Bruce! I kept looking at the footage. It was the Hulk in Harlem beating the shit out of General Ross’s team. Served them right for pissing Bruce off. Why couldn’t people just leave him alone? Oh, I remember, General Ross wanted to use the Hulk as a weapon that bastard.  
I then looked at the other files when a name popped up that caused a very disgruntled noise emerged from my throat. Tony Stark. I had dated him for five months a few years back and regretted the whole relationship. Never date a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist…never ends well…I moved my gaze to the next footage and I had to sit down for it. My freakin’ hero, Captain America was on the team. This would be the best day ever if it hadn’t been for the fact my boyfriend was being controlled by a God. The last video was of Clint and Natasha working together on a mission. The only one I really paid attention to was Clint. His brown hair spiked up in the front, his dazzling blue eyes, his bare muscles flexing, pulling back his bow. I closed the file quickly so not to get upset. I sat there for a few minutes staring at the file. I then stood up and went to my room and began packing a few clothes and my uniform.   
An hour later I had my backpack, apartment key, the file, and my cell phone. I quickly dialed Nick’s number. I stood there waiting through two dial tines until he finally answered.  
“Yes, Adeen?”  
“Would you mind if I came in earlier than tomorrow?”   
“Thought you would ask. Waiting outside now.”   
“Swear you read minds sometimes.” I told him, ending the call and leaving the apartment locking the door behind me.  
I walked out of the building to find the Black SUV and Nick waiting for me. He opened the door for me and I slid in the car and he followed behind shutting the door behind him. He sat beside me in the back seat. The entire ride to the airport was a silent one.

Next day on the Hellicarrier.

Bruce’s P.O.V.

I walked around the Hellicarrier, looking around, beginning to worry a little about the safety of the agents and how much money it would take to repair all this if the Other Guy decided to come out and play. I then saw Steve Rogers and Natasha walking towards me and decided to greet them.   
“Dr. Banner.” Steve greeted me, I was not use to people being nice to me or even wanting to talk to me.   
I shook his hand. Geez he had one firm grip.  
“Oh yea. Hi. They told me you’d be coming.”   
“Word is you can find the cube.” Steve announced.  
Oh great. What were people saying about me? I looked up at Steve, unsure of what he meant by the statement.  
“Is that the only word on me?” I asked sheepishly.  
“Only word I care about.”  
I took a deep breath; relieved he didn’t care about the Other Guy and only cared about the matter at hand. We started walking around the Hellicarrier with Agent Romanoff tailing behind us. I looked around the ship and looked at Steve.  
“Must be strange for you, all of this.” I replied, spreading my arms out as if I was presenting the entire ship.  
Steve shrugged a little at the comment.  
“Well, this is actually kind of familiar.” He answered, looking around.   
Agent Romanoff then stepped in between us with her hands behind her back and a smile on her face.  
“Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It’s gonna get a little hard to breathe.”  
The Hellicarrier began to shake under our feet.   
“Is this a submarine?” Steve asked in awe.  
I laughed a little, finding the humor in the situation at hand.  
“Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?”  
Steve and I then walked closer to the edge to get a better look and looked down as the engines began to rise into the air. I laughed and smiled at the reality.   
“Oh no, this is much worse.”

As we walked through the now flying Hellicarrier, a voice came over an intercom.   
“Agent O’Sullivan, you are needed on the Bridge right away.”   
I knew that name all too well. I became a tad bit nervous and worried. I hadn’t seen Adeen for too long. I began to feel bad thinking of how she took my disappearance, running from the government, and The Other Guy. Or what if she had totally erased me from her mind or lashed out on me and never wanted anything to do with me ever again. I don’t think I would be able to handle that. We then finally reached the Bridge and entered the main controls. I looked around the room. It was actually quite impressive. Fury was then standing in the center of the room. He looked at both Steve and I with the same facial expression he always had upon his face.  
“Gentlemen.” He greeted as Steve gave him ten bucks I guess for some odd reason. I wasn’t about to ask.  
Just then, the door slid open again and a woman walked into the room. She had long, curly brown hair that draped over her shoulders, red brimmed glasses concealing her dazzling blue eyes, her skin was lightly tanned, and she wore a pair of dark blue bell-bottomed jeans, black leather cowboy boots, purple tank top underneath a flannel button-up shirt with a cross necklace around her neck. I didn’t recognize her at first but it was definitely her. She had changed a lot in the time I had been away. She looked even more beautiful than the last time I saw her. Wait, what was I saying? Was I seriously thinking about her again like that? She didn’t even seem to notice Steve or I and kept her attention on Director Fury.  
“You needed me, sir?” her sweet southern accent rang in my ears.  
I seriously need to stop doing that…  
“I wanted you to meet some of the team.” Nick answered her.  
Adeen looked at Steve and I saw her become very excited. She idolized Captain America for as long as I could remember. I saw her walk over to Steve and extend her hand out. Steve reached for her hand and shook her hand.  
“Adeen O’Sullivan or you can call me Lasher. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain.”   
“You can call me Steve, and it’s a pleasure to meet you too ma’am.”   
I saw Adeen smile and look over at Natasha.   
“Hi Natasha. Long time no see.” Adeen seemed to stand there awkwardly not knowing what to do.  
Natasha smiled and walked over to her.  
“Come here, I know how hard this is for the both of us.” Natasha warmly told her.  
The two hugged like they were old friends and pulled away from each other smiling at each other. She then turned towards me and her face looked a little shocked, forlorn, awkward, and angry. She crossed her arms across her chest and started rubbing her arms as if she were cold. I knew this was one of her habits she had when she was nervous. She looked at me and then to the floor.   
“Um…hi Bruce…” she finally greeted.  
I seriously began feeling extremely bad now. She didn’t deserve to go through all that stress worrying over me. I know how she gets when she’s worried. It’s not pretty and I’m extremely surprised she hadn’t lectured me yet. She usually wouldn’t be this calm. I guess she’s changed a lot since the last time I saw her which was twelve years ago I believe…I’m probably going to get my ear chewed off later about it when no one else was around.   
“Hi Adeen…” I slowly greeted.  
I’m guessing Nick saw how Adeen was acting, and walked over to me extending his hand to me to shake. I looked at it hesitantly and then took it and shook his hand.  
“Doctor, thank you for coming.” He greeted me, letting go of my hand.  
I looked down and then up at the Director.  
“Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh...how long am I staying?”   
“Once we have the Tesseract in our hands, you’re in the clear.” Fury answered.  
Yea right…   
“Where are you with that?” I asked taking off my jacket.   
“We’re sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it’s connected to a satellite, it’s eyes and ears for us.” Agent Coulson answered instead this time, looking up at me with curiosity in his eyes.   
“That’s still not gonna find them in time.” Natasha added, trying to hide the emotion in the back of her throat.   
“You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?”  
Nick looked back at me.  
“How many are there?”  
I smiled a little.   
“Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I’ll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work.”  
“Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please.” Director Fury told the agent.  
Agent Romanoff started walking past me and I started to following beside her.  
“You’re gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys.”   
We were about the leave the bridge when Director Fury stopped us for a moment.  
“Wait, Agent O’Sullivan, I want you to be Doctor Banner’s assistant for the time being. Help him with whatever he needs.”  
This was not going to be a pleasant working environment. I flinched a little when he announced Adeen would be working with me. This was not going to end well.


	3. Chapter 3

ADEEN’S P.O.V.

“Wait, Agent O’Sullivan, I want you to be Doctor Banner’s assistant for the time being. Help him with whatever he needs.”   
I tensed up and became very angry and confused. He was assigning me to be Bruce’s assistant? What the hell was he thinking? I was already pissed off, upset, and not in the mood for this. I looked at Nick and saw the look in his eye. I rolled my eyes. He wanted me to babysit Bruce, just in case he had one of his “episodes” and to know I was still not able to be an active agent. I glared at him then joined Natasha and Bruce and we walked to the lab together. I seriously felt like I would be sick, not literally, but I had that feeling in my gut that something was up that I didn’t know about. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and just looked down at my feet as I walked behind Natasha. How was I suppose to be a freakin’ science genius’s assistant? I knew nothing about gamma radiation or algorithms or the kind of science equipment stored in the labs. I would just get in his way or worse mess something up. This was not going to be a good due to my lack of patience for today’s technology and the lack of knowledge of the subject.  
I sensed someone was staring at me. I looked up and saw it was Bruce eyeing me curiously with concern in his eye. I quickly looked away, eyeing forward for the rest of the time. 

BRUCE’S P.O.V.

I looked around my shoulder to look at Adeen. She was looking down at the ground with her hands in her pocket. She looked as if she were worried or thinking over something. It was obvious that she was going to snap at me once Natasha left. I saw her look up at me then quickly look away. The sadness and pain was easily seen. I looked forward again as we approached the lab. We walked inside and looked around a bit.   
“I’ll leave you both to work.” Agent Romanoff told us.  
I looked over my shoulder at her.  
“Thank you, Natasha.” I told her calmly.  
She nodded and started heading towards the door. I saw her stop by Adeen and heard her tell her something.  
“Don’t torture him too much.”  
I had to smile lightly to that comment. Even she knew Adeen was going to snap. Adeen had one of her mischievous smirks on her face trying to look innocent. Agent Romanoff left the lab, leaving us in silence. I put my jacket over a chair and put my hands in my pocket, turning towards Adeen. I might as well get this over with since we have to work together.  
“So…are you mad at me or something?”  
Once I said that, a very dark, sullen look fell upon her face. I’m screwed now.  
“Why would you say that?” she smugly asked, beginning to work on one of the computer screens.  
“Because normally you never stop talking…” I answered slowly.  
“Well, I’m sorry but when ever you’re best friend disappears for 12 years you kind of start to get pissed off and freak out.”  
“I was in hiding!”  
“I could’ve helped you!” she exclaimed angrily, now standing in front of me with her hands on her hips and eyes furiously slanted.   
“No one can help me!” I told her, trying not to get angry.  
“Robert Bruce Banner! I swear you are so stubborn sometimes!”  
“It’s the truth.” I explained.  
“No it’s not. Stop lying to yourself.”   
I could tell she was starting to simmer down some but this was Adeen. She lashed out at the any given moment.  
“All right, whatever you say, Adeen, and I’m not lying to myself!”  
“Did you forget I can read people’s emotions like an open book?”  
“What does that have to do with this?”   
“Because I know you are lying to yourself. Ich schwöre, Männer sind Idioten…”  
Really? She did not just say I swear men are idiots in front of me.   
“Really…really…I UNDERSTAND GERMAN, Adeen!”   
“Damn it! Where the Hell did you learn German?! You don’t speak German!”  
Awe man…I am not telling her why I learned German…no, no, no…not at this time.   
“I…picked it up in my travels…” I hesitantly lied.   
“Uh huh…sure you did…Klugscheißer…” she started walking away back to her computer screen.   
Oh so now she’s calling me a smart ass. I see how it is.   
“Hahaha…real funny.” I sarcastically told her.  
“Hahaha, like me to speak in a different language that you don’t understand?” she sarcastically asked turning back towards me.  
“You just called me a smart ass!” I exclaimed  
“That’s because you are a smart ass!”  
We were silent for a while, just glaring at each other. The look on her face then changed drastically. It went from angry to very sad. She looked as if she were going to cry or fall over. I’ve only seen her cry a few times in the time I’ve known her. She then hurried over to me and embraced me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around her and held her there for a few minutes.   
“I’ve missed you, Bruce…” she quietly admitted to me.   
I smiled.   
“I’ve missed you too, Adeen…I’ve missed you too…”  
Bruce’s POV  
Later on that night, I was still working in the lab. Adeen had fallen asleep in a chair in the corner. I looked over at her and smiled. She looked so peaceful when she slept and had a little grin upon her lips. I slowly walked over to her and put her jacket over her so she wouldn’t get cold. I then walked back over to my lab station and continued working on the project at hand. It wasn’t until after a few minutes that I looked up to see a dozen agents armed, leading the Asgardian God Loki. I heard Adeen walk over beside me. She must have sensed the uneasiness of the guards or sensed someone coming. I took my glasses off and stared at the God. Loki looked at me and an evil toothy smirk appeared on his face. My head started to become fuzzy and began to hurt. I rubbed the bridge of my nose and could tell Adeen was becoming concerned for I felt her hand rest on my arm. I looked down at her then, concern was definitely written on her face.  
“Bruce, are you all right?” She soothingly asked.  
Ugg, why did she have to be so nice to me? I don’t deserve this amount of kindness after all the shit I did to people. She was seriously killing me at the moment.   
I nodded slowly then saw her reach her hand up to her ear.  
“Dr. Banner and I will be there shortly.”  
She then looked back at me with a very serious gaze.   
“We’re needed on the bridge.”  
As we walked in, everyone was spread out around the room along with someone new. It was rather huge, muscular and by muscular I mean ripped, with long blonde hair, and some weird outfit. It was rather strange. I had never met him before in my life and I don’t think he came on the ship with us. I gazed over at Adeen and I saw a light smile of recognition appear on her face. She must have known him some how. She returned her gaze to a screen we were all watching and her face suddenly became very serious. It was Director Fury talking to Loki. Loki was in this glass cell and I already knew what it must have originally have been for once Fury began to explain.  
“In case it’s unclear, you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass.” Fury pressed a button, “Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant.” He pointed at the button. “Boot.”  
Loki laughed.  
“It’s an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me.”  
“Built for something a lot stronger than you.” Nick responded back.   
I knew it all along. They didn’t trust me. They wanted me locked up in a cage after all.   
“Oh, I’ve heard.” I saw Loki look straight into the camera, eyeing us. “The mindless beast, makes play to be the man.”  
Adeen looked at me, I folded my arms across my chest and looked back at her. I could tell she was pissed and was probably thinking of ways to torture Loki. She was very protective at times. We both looked back at the screen.  
“How desperate are you? You call on these lost creatures to defend you?”  
“How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill cause it’s fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”  
“Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is.”  
“Yeah, well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something.”   
At that, Fury left the Loki alone.  
“He really grows on you, doesn’t he?” I asked, slightly amused.  
“Loki’s gonna drag this out.” Steve added. “So, Thor, what’s his play?”   
So Thor is this guy’s name, and I’m guessing he’s another Asgardian.  
“He has an army called the Chitauri, that none of Asgard nor any world know. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. Return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.”  
“An army, from outer space.” Steve said, looking a little confused.  
“So he’s building another portal.” I pointed out. “That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.”  
“Selvig?” Thor asked, recognition and confusion on his face.  
“He’s an astrophysicist.” I answered him.  
“He’s a friend.” Thor explained to me.  
“Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours.” Natasha added, after being silent the whole time.  
“I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He’s not leading an army from here.”  
“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki.” I explained. “That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him.”  
At once I said this, I could tell this offended Thor.  
“I don’t care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he’s my brother.”  
That explains a lot…  
“He killed eighty people in two days.” Natasha explained stoically.  
Thank you, Natasha.  
“He’s adopted.”  
“Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?”  
As soon as I said this, Agent Coulson walked in with the Tony Stark. He was talking to Agent Coulson about something then put his focus on what we were discussing.  
“Means the portal won’t collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD.”   
Tony walked over to Thor and patted Thor’s bicep for some reason.  
“No hard feelings Point Break, you’ve got a mean swing.”  
I’m guessing their first meeting wasn’t a pleasant one or Adeen and me totally missed something when Captain and Natasha left for Germany.  
“Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants. Raise the monitors.”   
I noticed all the SHIELD agents on the computers just stared up at him. Then Tony pointed at one of them.  
“That man is playing Gallaga!”  
Poor Steve just looked at Tony in utter confusion. Poor guy.  
“Thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.” He looked at one of the computer monitors in front of him and covered one of his eyes. “How does Fury even see these?”  
“He turns.” Agent Hill answered, with her arms folded across her chest, not looking so pleased about Tony being here.  
“Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.”  
Agent Hill looked completely baffled by Tony’s knowledge of the subject.  
“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” she asked.  
“Last night. The packet, Selvig’s notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?”  
“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Steve asked, trying to get back on track.  
“He’s got to heat the cube to hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Collumb barrier.” I answered.  
“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.” Tony added on.  
“Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.” I explained.  
“Finally, someone who speaks English.” Tony announced in pure joy.  
Steve was even more confused this time.  
“Is that what just happened?” he asked, looking at the others.  
Tony held his hand out to me to shake. I returned the gesture.  
“It’s good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You’re work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”  
He said that too seriously. Was he really being serious about actually thinking that way about me? This was a little awkward.  
“Thanks…” I quietly thanked him, not used to the nice treatment.  
“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.” Fury entered the Bridge then.  
I looked over my shoulder at Adeen and I just knew by the look on her face she was trying to hide the anger and annoyance of Tony being in the room. Tony looked around me and saw Adeen and I saw a big smile on his face appear. He walked over to Adeen and wrapped an arm around her. I could tell this pissed Adeen off. I could tell by the way her body became rigid and tense and the way she rolled her eyes.  
“Hey sweetheart! It’s been forever.”   
“Yea…I wish it would have stayed that way…” Adeen murmured, shrugging Tony off her.   
“Let’s start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon.”  
Thank you, Steve for saving us from an argument and possibly physical injury.   
“I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the cube.” Nick responded. “And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”   
“Monkeys? I do not understand.” Thor asked, completely oblivious of the preference.  
“I do!” Steve exclaimed, proud of himself for actually understanding something we were talking about. Tony rolled his eyes. “I understood that reference.”  
“Shall we play doctor?” Tony asked me.  
“Yeah, right this way.” I answered leading him to the lab. I looked around my shoulder and found Adeen following hesitantly behind us. I stopped and waited for her. Tony noticed this and stopped also and saw Adeen. He seemed rather confused on why she was coming along with us. I guess Fury nor Agent Coulson explained to him she was my assistant.  
“You’re coming too, O’Sullivan?” he asked.  
“I kinda have to, I’m Dr. Banner’s assistant for the time being…”  
“Oh okay, awesome! Three heads are better than two.”   
“That…that made no sense what so ever…” Adeen stuttered, completely confused.   
“Don’t worry your pretty little head over it, sweetheart.” Tony slyly told her.  
She scoffed at the remark. I was rather confused.  
“Pretty? Psh…try wicked witch of the west…” she muttered quietly.  
I was confused by her comment. Why was she downing herself like that? She was probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. What is with me? I need to stop thinking this way. She has a boyfriend as far as I can tell probably, and I am just a monster who would probably end up hurting her anyway. I could tell just then that she knew something was wrong when she looked at me. I forced out a smile and began walking back to the lab with Tony and her by my side.


	4. Chapter 4

BRUCE'S POV  
“The gamma readings are finitely consistent with Selvig’s reports on the Tesseract. But it’s gonna take weeks to process.” I explained, checking the scepter with the radiation scanner.  
“If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops.” Tony added.  
I had to laugh.  
“All I packed was a tooth brush.”   
“You know, you should come by Stark Towers sometime. Top ten floors, all R and D. You’d love it, it’s candy land.”  
I heard Adeen laugh from her computer screen. I seriously wanted to know what went down with between those two.   
“Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke…Harlem.” I explained hesitantly.  
“Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises.”  
As I was working, Tony all of a sudden poked me with this electrical shock device.   
“Ow!” I exclaimed, grabbing my side.   
I looked over at Adeen and saw she had jumped from the sudden exclamation and was giving Tony an evil glare. If looks could kill, Tony would have dropped dead right on the spot. I looked at Tony then, he got in my face and stared into my eyes, probably looking for a sign that the Other Guy was about to make an appearance.  
“Nothing?” he asked, sounding disappointed and curious.  
I couldn’t help but laugh at his attempt. It was actually kind of funny.  
“Hey! Are you nuts?”   
Here came Steve, walking into the lab. This should be such a nice conversation…  
“You really have got a lid on it, haven’t you? What’s your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?”  
Adeen started laughing at this.  
“Bruce on drugs and playing Bongo drums? Oh my gosh, I’d have to see it to believe it.”   
“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve asked angrily at Tony.  
Did he have a sense of humor?  
“Funny things are.” Tony answered.  
“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn’t funny. No offense, doctor.”  
I really wish he didn’t say that.  
“You know, that was really rude Steve and you should really apologize.” Adeen snapped.  
“No, it…it’s all right. I wouldn’t have come aboard if I couldn’t handle pointy things.”   
I saw her look unsurely at me then continued working.   
“You’re tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut.” Tony patted me on the shoulder, walking around to Steve.  
“And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.” Steve snapped.  
“You think I’m not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn’t he telling us? I can’t do the equation unless I have all the variables.”   
“You think Fury’s hiding something?” Steve asked, baffled by the news.  
“Even I think he’s hiding something and I work for him.” Adeen answered, halting her work to look at all of us with her arms folded across her chest.   
“He’s a spy. Captain, he’s the spy. His secrets have secrets.” Tony then pointed at me. “It’s bugging him too, isn’t it?”  
Why did he have to get me involved now? I was becoming very uncomfortable and just wanted to finish my work.  
“Uh…I just wanna finish my work here and…”  
“Doctor?” Steve interrupted me.   
“Bruce, I know it’s bothering you, just spill it out already.” Adeen announced.  
Man, can I hide anything around her?  
“’A warm light for all mankind to share’, Loki’s jab at Fury about the cube.” I answered.  
“I heard it.” Steve stated.  
I pointed at Tony.  
“Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn’t post that all over the news.”  
“The Stark Tower? That big, ugly…” Tony glared at Steve before he finished, “building in New York?”  
“It’s powered by Stark Reactors, self sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?”   
“That’s just the prototype. I’m kind of the only name in clean energy right now.”  
“So why didn’t SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?”  
“I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD’s secure files.” Tony answered all of my questions at that.   
“I’m sorry, did you say…?” Steve began to ask.  
“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we’ll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide.” He pointed a bag of blueberries in his hand towards Steve. “Blueberry?”  
“Wait, you…you hacked into SHIELD? Tony what the hell?! I could have done that for you.”   
I was kind of shocked Adeen would want to hack into SHIELD when she worked there for God knows how long.  
“Yet you’re confused about why they didn’t want you around?” Steve asked, extremely annoyed.   
“An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically not possible.”   
“I think Loki’s trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don’t say focused, he’ll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them.”  
“Following isn’t really my style.” Tony told Steve.  
“And you’re all about style, aren’t you?” Steve asked, now extremely annoyed.   
“Of the people in this room, which one is; a) wearing a spangly outfit, and b) not of use?”   
“Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?’ I calmly asked, looking at him.  
“Just find the cube.” He angrily told us, walking out of the lab.   
“That’s the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn’t have kept him on ice.”   
“The guy’s not wrong about Loki, he does have the jump on us.”  
“Bruce and Steve are right Tony…everyone is on edge, I can feel it and it’s really bothering me.” Adeen explained. I could tell by the sound of her voice she was worried.   
“What he’s got is an ACME dynamite kit. It’s gonna blow up in his face, and I’m gonna be there when it does.”  
“And I’ll read all about it.” I told him now working on a computer screen.   
“Uh-huh. Or you’ll be suiting up like the rest of us.”   
“Ah, see, I don’t get a suit of armor. I’m exposed, like a nerve. It’s a nightmare.”  
“You know, I’ve got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart.” He pointed at his arc reactor on his chest. “This stops it. This little circle of light. It’s part of me now, not just armor. It’s a terrible privilege.”  
“But you can control it.” I told him.  
“Because I learned how.” Tony explained.   
“It’s different…” I told him, continuing to work on the computer screen.  
“Hey,” Tony said, wiping my work off the screen to look at me from the other side of it, “I’ve read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure, should have killed you.”  
“So you’re saying that the Hulk, the other guys, saved my life? That’s nice. It’s a nice sentiment. Save it for what?”  
“I guess we’ll find out.”   
“You may not enjoy that.” I added.  
“You just might.” Tony told me.  
I noticed Adeen was silent the whole time. I looked over at her and saw she was looking down with a forlorn look on her face. I seriously hope I didn’t upset her. I don’t think I did at least. She must have noticed I was staring at her because she changed the expression on her face to a much happier one. She walked over to me and started whispering something in my ear.  
“If you were to suit up with us, just remember you’d be the buffest one out of them all.” She whispered with a smile on her face.  
I seriously couldn’t help but laugh at that. No one usually looked on the bright side of the Other Guy and she made it easy to talk about it in a funny way.  
“Oh really now? I’m pretty sure you are just saying that.”  
“No, no I’m telling the truth. Plus green suits you perfectly and it’s extremely attractive.”   
“Wow, okay you, have a boyfriend remember?” I whispered back.  
“Psh, it is my Constitutional right as a woman in United States of America to say if a man is attractive God damn it!” she whispered, laughing after she finished.  
“Okay, okay, calm down Lady Liberty, don’t have to attack me with our nations Constitution.”  
“I do what I want!”   
We both started laughing again. It had been a while since I laughed like this. Tony then looked at us weirdly.   
“Whatchya talkin’ about?” Tony asked curiously.  
“Nooothing.” Adeen slyly stated, trying hard not to laugh.  
“Tell me!” Tony whined.  
“No, it’s deep dark secrets that you don’t need to know about.” I told him, trying to hide my smile.  
“I like deep dark secrets…” Tony slyly stated.  
“But these are way too dark and deep for your tiny little mind, Anthony darling.” Adeen told him in a mocking way.  
“How are you calling my mind tiny?!”  
“Because the capacity of it lacks great quality when it comes to keeping secrets my dear ex.”  
Oh my God. She dated Tony Stark? Wow, this just got even more interesting and explains a lot.  
“Hahahahaha, good one…now about those secrets…”  
“Wow, you two dated? That’s a scary thought.”  
“It was the worst relationship I was ever in.” Adeen explained, looking at me with a mischievous grin on her face.  
“Hey now! I’m damn good looking and super intelligent!”  
“Yes, but you’re the biggest narcissist…EVER!” Adeen mentioned.  
“I am hurt by that comment…” Tony dramatically sighed.  
“Good, now you know the pain I went through for five months.”   
I couldn’t stop laughing. Adeen started laughing and lightly punched me in the arm.  
“It’s not funny, Bruce.” She sighed.  
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it!”  
“Tell me those secrets!” Tony exclaimed.  
“We shall never tell!” Adeen exclaimed.  
“They are just inside jokes between Adeen and me.” I explained to him.  
“I like inside jokes!”   
“Your dirty mind wouldn’t understand!” Adeen exclaimed.  
“Fine, but I will remember this moment and hold it against you both!”  
“What did Bruce and I do other than not tell you something?”   
“When ever I have inside jokes with people, I will remember this moment!”   
“No you won’t. You suck at remembering small things like birthdays or meetings.”   
“Fine, be that way! I’ll be back!”  
At that, he stormed out of the room.  
“MWAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It worked!” She smiled brightly.  
“Wow, that was evil.” I told her.  
“Why, thank you. MWAHAHAHA!”   
“Oh my…” I sighed, laughing to myself.  
“So anyway, back to our conversation from earlier…” Adeen started saying.   
Oh my here we go again. I smiled and started walking back over to where the scepter was. I could tell she was following me. She stood right beside me behind the desk.  
“You can not kick the Hulk’s ass.” I told her with a laugh.  
“Are you kidding me? I could so kick the Hulk’s ass if I was up against him.”  
I laughed to myself as I worked on the scepter and smiled at Adeen’s statement. I looked up at her to find her smiling back at me.  
“I’m pretty sure if the Other Guy can destroy a whole city, he can kick your ass.”  
“That is so chauvinistic! You are such a man!” she teased, laughing.  
“I’m not trying to be chauvinistic, I apologize for that comment before. It was not meant to be prejudiced in any way what so ever.” I apologized jokingly, rolling my eyes with a smile on my face.  
“Uh huh, sure you’re sorry. Just remember, I’m as strong as the Hulk and to not mess with the Lasher.”  
I couldn’t help but laugh at what she said. It had been a long time since I actually laughed or had a fun conversation with Adeen or anyone really. It seemed like everything was normal again in a way, not really normal but it felt right to actually laugh and not have to worry about where I was going next or who was after me. Plus I was never comfortable about talking about the Other Guy to anyone, but for some reason Adeen made it easy to talk to about it. I don’t know if it was because we have been friends for over 20 years or something else.   
“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”   
“Sweetheart? I think you have being hanging around Tony too much.”  
“I have to agree with you on that one.” I agreed laughing to myself.   
I reached over to grab the radiation scanner when I tripped over something and almost fell on top of Adeen. I put my hand out and placed it against the wall behind Adeen. I opened my eyes and I noticed I was only an inch away from Adeen’s face. Our bodies were barely touching. I looked into Adeen’s eyes. Her face turned a light pink color. I was surprised she didn’t try to get out of the situation since she was in a relationship at the moment and she doesn’t like people invading her personal space. She just stood there. She wasn’t afraid of me like everyone else when I was close to them. She just looked up at me, not moving. For some strange reason, I really just wanted to wrap her in my arms and kiss her. I didn’t know why I felt like this, but I knew I couldn’t do that to her. I then heard a familiar voice by the door.  
“Eh hem! PDA in the work zone!” Tony’s voice boomed.  
I quickly stood up straight and moved away from Adeen. I looked over at Adeen and she looked a little hurt, embarrassed, and nervous. I seriously wanted to hit myself for that. She started rubbing her arms like she always did when she was nervous.  
“Um…um…since Tony is here, I’ll leave ya’ll to work…if you need anything Dr. Banner, I’m a call away.”  
“Adeen…” I started to call after but she had already rushed past Tony and disappeared out the door.  
Tony looked back at me then and had a mischievous grin on his face.  
This is not going to end well…

ADEEN’S P.O.V

Bruce pressed me up against the wall after he had tripped and I was looking up at him. I knew he wasn’t trying to do this and was trying to keep himself from falling but the look he gave me was telling me a whole different story. Sorrow, need, confusion, pain, and another emotion I couldn’t think of or had ever sensed in Bruce before, were swimming in his eyes. I started getting a pain in my chest at that point. I wanted nothing more than to tell him how I felt about him, to tell him how much I loved him and missed him over the years, and to kiss him.  
Wow, okay in relationship. I could never do that to Clint…  
But it just felt so right, being this close to Bruce, being with him, but he kept his emotions well hidden from my powers, I never knew if he felt the same about me. I understand he doesn’t like expressing his emotions or opening up to people because of his accident years ago, but I kept telling him he could talk to me about it. I knew more about him than what his files told people. He just refused to open up at this moment and was being a gentleman. I guess that’s one of the many things I loved about Bruce. He wasn’t forward like Clint was, he respected my space, didn’t pry me with questions all the time, and he didn’t yell at me when I asked him a serious question.  
I looked up into those chestnut brown eyes. I seriously wanted to curse at myself. Why did he have to be so damn attractive with his brown curls, tanned skin, gentle eyes, and muscular body? It was silent between us until I heard the voice of someone very familiar.   
“Eh hem, PDA in the work zone!” Tony freaking shouted.  
Bruce quickly stood up straight and stepped away from me. It kind of hurt a little because he was embarrassed but I felt bad then because he looked like he was angry at himself. I began to become very nervous with Tony being in the room and witnessing the whole thing. I began rubbing my arms nervously and began stuttering when I started talking. Stuttering? Why am I stuttering? I never stutter.  
“Um…um…since Tony is here, I’ll leave ya’ll to work…if you need anything Dr. Banner, I’m a call away.”  
I quickly rushed past Tony hearing my name come from Bruce. I ignored it and walked out into the cool hallway. I leaned up against the wall near the lab and slid down into a sitting position, hugging my knees, and putting my head down. My face still felt hot.   
God, what am I going to do? I thought to myself. Why do I keep doing that to myself? Why do I keep leading him on like that? I love Clint…or do I?  
I shook my head and got up. I went to my room and just plopped down on the bed. I needed to stop thinking like this.


	5. Chapter 5

BRUCE’S POV  
“Dude, why don’t you just tell her how you feel?” Tony asked me.   
I started feeling uncomfortable and started working on the scepter again. I was really pissed off at Tony for causing Adeen to leave the room. I was more confused on why Tony was asking me that question.   
“What are you talking about?”  
Tony leaned up against the table and folded his arms across his chest.  
“I think you know what I’m talking about.”  
This was starting to annoy me.  
“Well it’s obvious I have no clue what you are talking about.”   
“Okay, I’ll spell it out for you…you like her!”  
I became very flustered, awkward, and nervous.  
“What?! No! I could never…she’s my friend for God’s sake, Tony…”  
Tony smirked roguishly.  
“Uh huh, sure…”  
“What you just witnessed was completely harmless…”  
“Not from where I was standing…God only knows what would have happened if I hadn’t dropped in.”  
I rolled my eyes and continued working, trying hard to ignore him.  
“You can’t ignore it forever.” Tony responded after five minutes of silence.  
“Tony…she’s with Clint. She’s obviously happy with him. Why would she want to be with a monster in the first place?”  
“She doesn’t think you’re a monster and neither do I.”  
“Try explaining that to everyone on this ship then you come back and tell me that.”  
Tony sighed, obviously becoming frustrated. I don’t know why he would be the one getting frustrated.   
“Is that really what you want to happen?”  
“Want what to happen, Tony?” I snapped, becoming very annoyed.  
“Oh, I think you know.”  
“Tony, if you say I think you know one more time, I swear to God I will be okay with letting the Other Guy attack you…” I threatened angrily.  
“But you do!”  
“I’m so confused!” I put my tools down and ran my hands through my hair.  
“Just think…”  
“That’s kind of hard at the moment…” I explained, trying to calm the Other Guy whom was pounding at the back of my skull.  
“Okay, here it is. You want things to happen between you and Adeen.”  
“Um…okay then…like that’ll ever happen…”  
“You never know…”  
“I do know so that’s that.”   
“All right fine…” Tony said before coughing, “Know it all.” Under his breath.  
“Klugscheißer…” I smartly say under my breath. I noticed the confused look on his face. I smiled.  
“What did you call me?” Tony asked, curiously.  
“Look it up.”  
ADEEN’S POV  
I was probably in my room for twenty minutes and I was completely bored just lying there. My head hurt from thinking too much about my feelings. Why was I cursed with such a depressing mutation? A lot of people had empathy, but mine just had to be mutated to an extreme level. I couldn’t take being by myself any longer, so I decided to leave my room and walk around. I ended up bumping into Thor in the hallway. It hurt quite a bit. It felt as if two brick walls just collided with each other. Well at least my super strength was useful at times like these… I looked up at the giant blonde and found a huge grin on his face. Next thing you know, two giant arms are pulling me into a bone-crushing hug.   
“Adeen O’Sullivan! It’s so good to see you again, friend!”   
I smiled, even though I was finding it hard to breathe.  
“Good…to see…you…too, Thor…can’t breathe…”   
“Oh yes,” he realized, releasing me from his muscular arms, “My apologies.”   
I couldn’t help but laugh.  
“It’s fine, Thor, I wasn’t expecting it. I will next time.”   
“Are you part of this ‘Avengers’ alliance thing?” He asked, hesitantly.  
“Yes, Lasher has returned for another go-round.”   
“I apologize for my brother’s actions. He’s taking his anger of my father and I on your planet.”   
“It’s all right, Thor. Whatever he’s got plotted, we’ll stop him before it’s too late.”   
“Indeed we shall.”  
I could still tell Thor cared for his little brother, even though he was adopted and killed a lot of people and wants to destroy the world. I seriously don’t get what Loki’s problem was. His brother loved him dearly and he just wished Thor were never born. At least he has a brother…my brother was taken from me…murdered by my monster of a father. I hope he rots in SHIELD’s jail for the rest of his God damn life…he took everything from me…he took my mother, little sister, brother, and home from me…he destroyed everything that meant something dear to me. He ruined my life. Now I had to live each and everyday with the burden of not being able to save my family, not being able to see their smiling faces ever again. I felt a great deal of pain and depression seep through my chest just then. It began to become difficult to breathe.   
Don’t cry…please don’t cry…you can’t do that here…your done with crying…no more crying…  
“Adeen? Are you all right?”   
I jumped hearing Thor’s loud, English accent all of a sudden. I shook my head and blinked a few times. I was still not registering his words. I was very confused. How long had I spaced out?  
“Adeen, you look like you have seen a spectre…you have become very pale and forlorn. What is the matter?”   
I tried to smile, it was a weak one but hey, it was still a smile. I didn’t want to burden him with the knowledge of my horrific childhood. There was no way I was going to get my personal life involved with this. I wanted it to stay in secret. For six people on this ship were the only ones who know what my past was like: Nick, Maria, Phil, Natasha, Clint, and…Bruce. I didn’t want anyone else knowing about it. I wanted no pity and I wanted no special attention. There was no way I was about to open up to anyone else about it. I was far too embarrassed and it brought back nightmares I wished to avoid at all costs. No one should go through all the pain and suffering I went through. It was inhumane and could cause someone to lose all sense of control. I gazed back up into Thor’s blue eyes and tried my best reassurance expression. Thor seemed to buy my act because he loosened up and the stress and worry evaporated from his body. I took a silent deep breath, relieved that that was over. Thank the lord for acting classes in high school and college.   
“Well, it was nice seeing you again Thor; wish they were under better circumstances. I’m going to head off to bed. Good night.”  
“Good evening, Adeen.” He replied back with his big goofy grin.   
He reminded me so much of my brother Wade. The blue eyes, tall built, the goofy grin, his fun personality; everything about Thor resembled my brother. I had to control the pace in my walk so I didn’t sprint to my room. I didn’t want people or Thor eyeing me suspiciously and think something was up. I couldn’t let my reputation as an agent slip from my grasp. Once I got to my room, I shut the door behind me and slid down the door to a sitting position on the floor. There, I let all the tears spill out. I was done hiding my emotions now. I was alone and free to be the true person I was. I wasn’t the strong, tough agent anymore, I was sensitive, hurt   
Adeen O’Sullivan. All the pain, all the anger, all the sadness, couldn’t be restrained anymore. I was a wounded monster. Every emotion on any subject that was running or hiding in the back of my head was released. My hatred towards Loki for taking Clint and my hatred towards God for giving me these accursed mutations and taking my family from me was one of the strong elements of my break down. All I wanted to be was normal. I didn’t want to be the mutant parents told their children at night. I wanted to be a normal human being, not this freak of nature. Then the hatred with Loki, if I ever get my hands on him, I will seriously bring great harm to him. That sick, egotistical bastard took one of the few people I had left that loved me. I don’t give a shit if he’s a God or not, he’s going to receive Hell from me.   
Then all the other emotions and memories came. All the happy memories of my family, the day of their murder, then memories of meeting Bruce came, times being with Clint then appeared also, then memories of only maybe an hour before when Bruce was close to me, and then finally Thor and his resemblance to my brother. I seriously don’t know how I’m able to an agent with all the shit that goes through my head. I don’t even know how I manage to live through out the days with all these demons coming back to haunt me. A lot of people say I should talk to a shrink but how would they understand what I’m going through. They don’t know anything about how it feels to witness the murder of your family or all the other demons in my past. I’m surprised I haven’t snapped yet from all the stress and repressed emotions and memories.   
I took a few deep breaths and slowly stood up. I wiped the tears away with the sleeve of my jacket and walked over to my bag. I pulled out my copy of Grimm’s Complete Fairytales by the Brothers Grimm and sat on the bed, leaning my back up against the wall and began reading where I left off. Reading always seemed to be my escape from the world around me. Plus I couldn’t really do anything. There was no use for me in the lab since Tony joined Bruce and I don’t feel like going back there for a while after Tony witnessed me and Bruce’s little awkward situation. The board of directors didn’t want me anywhere near the bridge or other agents, plus I’m pretty sure they had no clue I was on the Avengers roster. I felt completely useless so I sank into my book and read about the dark fairytales that haunted the souls of children over 200 years ago. I read for about an hour when my phone began to ring. I finished the page I was reading and picked it up, not paying attention to the caller ID.   
“O’Sullivan.”   
“Adeen, we need you back…in the lab…” Bruce’s husky voice hesitantly explained.  
I began to feel guilty for leaving him alone with Tony and for running out on him. I took a deep breath running my hands through my bushy curls.  
“I’m be right there.” I answered.  
“All right…are you okay, Adeen?”  
I couldn’t help but smile. He always looked out for me.  
“Yeah, I’m fine, Bruce. I’ll be in the lab in five minutes.”  
“All right, bye.”   
“Bye.”  
I ended the call and left my room, heading down the hall to the lab.


	6. Chapter 6

BRUCE’S POV  
“They’re using what?!” Adeen angrily asked, disbelief slipping into her tone.  
This was definitely not going to end well.   
“Phase two is using the Tesseract as a weapon with confiscated Hydra weapons from World War II.” Tony explained pointing to the screen.   
I could tell this pissed Adeen off. The Tesseract was a very dangerous thing and using it as a weapon made it even more dangerous. I was a little surprised Adeen didn’t know about this, considering the fact she worked here as an agent.   
“Are you sure you didn’t know about any of this?” Tony asked her.  
Adeen crossed her arms across her chest and gave Tony a death glare. If looks could kill, Tony would be sprawled out on the floor dead for the second time this evening.   
“The council doesn’t want me knowing squat, especially being put on missions with others. Why would I be told anything?”  
“Well, aren’t you Fury’s favorite, sweetheart?” Tony asked sarcastically.  
I’m pretty sure it took all the control Adeen had to keep from strangling Tony.   
“Please, I think Fury would keel over if he told me anything about this phase two stuff. I didn’t even know that the Tesseract was stolen until a few days later. He knows my thoughts on Hydra and their technology…”  
At that moment, Director Fury walked in looking rather pissed off. I guess he found out about Tony’s hacking into their files.  
“What are you doing, Mr. Stark?” he asked.  
“Uh…kind of been wondering the same thing about you.” Tony sarcastically answered, eyeing down the director.   
“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.” Nick told him.   
“We are, the model’s locked and we’re sweeping for the signature now.” I explained to him.  
“When we get a hit, we’ll have the location within half a mile…” Adeen finished explaining for me with a bitter tone.  
“And you’ll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss. What is Phase 2?”   
Tony opened a file on the screen in front of him. Steve suddenly appeared in the room with one of the weapons in the file. He looked angry.  
“Phase 2 is SHIELD using the cube to make weapons.” He answered, then looked at Tony, “Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me.”  
“Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we’re…”  
“I’m sorry, Nick,” Tony sarcastically announced, moving the computer screen towards Fury, showing the plans of the weapon, “What were you lying?”  
“I was wrong, Director…the world hasn’t changed a bit…” Steve told Fury.  
“When were you planning on explaining this to us, Director?” Adeen asked through her gritted teeth.  
I gazed over in her direction and could tell it took every ounce of her being not to attack him. Adeen hated being lied to right under her powers. Nick was about to answer her question or state another lie when Natasha and Thor entered the room. I angrily looked at Agent Romanoff.  
“Did you know about this?” I asked her stiffly.  
“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?” she retaliated with a question.   
I was becoming more annoyed and very angry by the minute.   
“I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.” I answered bitterly.  
“Loki’s manipulating you.” Natasha explained to me.   
Is she being serious? It was probably just another one of her lies.   
“And you’ve been doing what exactly?” I interrogated sarcastically.  
“You didn’t come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.” She answered with a glare.  
Wow, she really thought I came here because of her looks? Please…that was shallow, even for her. I’m not even interested in her or find her attractive whatsoever. Give me a break.   
“Yes, and I’m not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy.” I retaliated, grabbing the screen and pointing a pen at the screen, looking at her, “I’d like to know why SHILED is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.”  
Nick glared at me with his one eye and then pointed at Thor.  
“Because of him.” He answered.  
Thor looked confused.  
“Me?”  
“Last year, earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge mass that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned.”   
“My people want nothing but peace with your planet.” Thor explained, with his arms folded across his chest.  
“But you’re not the only people out there, are you? And, you’re not the only threat. The world’s filling up with people who can’t be matched, they can’t be controlled.”   
“Like you controlled the cube?” Steve asked accusingly.   
“You’re work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war.”   
“A higher form?” Steve asked, confusion and shock in his tone.  
“You forced our hand. We had to come up with something.”   
Adeen bitingly laughed with her eyes narrowed and placed her hands on her hips leaning up against one of the lab tables.  
“That is unfair and this whole situation with Loki is basically your fault because of the damned cube!” she exclaimed angrily.  
“A nuclear deterrent, ‘cause that always calms everything right down.” Tony sardonically responded to Nick’s response.  
“Remind me how you made your fortune, Stark?” Fury counterattacked.  
“I’m sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep…” Steve began to explain before Tony interrupted him.  
“Wait, wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?”   
“I’m sorry, isn’t everything?” Steve apologized sarcastically.  
“I thought humans were more evolved than this.” Thor stated out there.  
“Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?” Nick asked him, glaring at him.  
“You speak of control, yet you court chaos.” Thor replied, truthfully.  
“Everyone, just calm down…” Adeen tried to get their attention, but everyone ignored her plea.  
“It’s his M.O., isn’t it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We’re…we’re a time-bomb.”  
Nick turned his gaze towards me and stepped towards me wagging a finger at me.   
“You need to step away.” He threatened.  
“Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?” Tony asked, presenting me with his arm extended towards me.   
“You know damn well why! Back off!”   
That was pretty low coming from Steve.  
“Oh, I’m starting to want you to make me.” Tony threatened getting in Steve’s face.   
“Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?”   
“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” Tony explained in a serious tone.  
“I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I’ve seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”  
“I think I could just cut the wire.” Tony responded.  
“Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.”  
“A hero, like you? You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle.”  
“Put on the suit, let’s go a few rounds.” Steve challenged, glaring at Tony.  
Thor began to laugh at the two bickering.  
“You people are so petty, and tiny.”  
“Yeah, this is a team…” I muttered rolling my eyes.  
“Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his…” Nick began to order.  
“He’s not a wild animal, Nick!” Adeen snapped angrily.  
“Where? You’re renting my room.”   
“The cell was just…” Nick began explaining when I cut him off.  
“In case you needed to kill me, but you can’t, I know, I tried.” I saw the reactions everyone showed. The one that stood out the most was Adeen’s. I could see the pain and hurt and sorrow in her eyes as she stared at me in shock and fear at my words. “I got low, I didn’t see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?”   
I saw Nick and Natasha go for their guns. I saw Adeen glare at them and look at them as if they were stupid. The others looked at me suspiciously for some reason and I had no idea why.  
“Dr. Banner, put down the scepter.” Steve calmly ordered.  
I glared at him as he spoke then looked down to find the scepter in my hand. I was so confused. I don’t remember picking it up. I looked back at the others as the computer comes to life and shows the signal for locating the Tesseract. I put down the scepter and walk over to the computer monitor.  
“Sorry, kids. You don’t get to see my party trick after all.”   
“You guys are so stupid,” Adeen snapped at Nick and Natasha, “The man tells you he can’t die yet you still go for your guns…are you both idiots?”  
“Watch your tongue, Agent O’Sullivan.” Nick warned her angrily.  
“Located the Tesseract?” Thor asked suddenly as Nick, Adeen, and Natasha starting disputing.   
“I can get there faster.” Tony answered.   
“Look, all of us…” Steve began to explain when Thor interrupted him this time.   
“The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it.”  
“You’re not going alone!” I heard Steve exclaim, as I looked down at the screen.  
“You gonna stop me?” Tony asked in a challenging tone.  
“Put on the suit, let’s find out.” Steve challenged again.  
“I’m not afraid to hit an old man.” Tony rebuttled.  
“Put on the suit.” Steve ordered angrily.  
I noticed something about the Tesseract that shocked me.  
“Oh, my God!” I muttered out loud.   
Just then, an explosion blew through the window and threw Natasha, Adeen, and me through the window, landing hard in the level below the lab. I could feel the Other Guy beginning to morph my body and I struggled to restrain him.


	7. Chapter 7

NATASHA’S POV  
“Romanoff, do you copy? Are you all right?”  
I heard Fury’s voice through my earpiece. I propped myself up with my elbows. I reached my hand up to my ear, pain searing through my body as I tried to stand up. Something was restraining me from getting up and that was not a good thing in my situation. I looked over my shoulder and saw a huge pip pinning my leg down. This should be fun… I thought to myself before responding to the Director’s frazzled tone.  
“We’re all right…right, Adeen…?”   
I looked over to my left and saw Adeen was laying on the ground unconscious. That wasn’t good. I looked up, fear engulfing my entire body as I saw Bruce trying not to morph into the Hulk. This was definitely not good. This just became worse. The only person who could possibly take on the Hulk at this moment was lying unconscious beside me. Everything just has to go wrong doesn’t it? I tried to pull myself from under the pipe but it wouldn’t budge. I down at Adeen then and reached my hand over to her and began shaking her arm slightly.  
“Adeen, wake up...this is not funny…Adeen, wake up!”   
I shook her arm a little rougher this time. She moaned softly in her unconscious state from probably something that hurt her. I took my hand away from her, not wanting to hurt her anymore than she already was at the moment. I quickly looked up at Bruce, seeing he was in a lot of pain. I had to try and calm him down before he got worse. After all these years of seeing people in pain, this was the worst I have seen anyone in pain. I didn’t want to think about how badly he was suffering. No one should go through that amount of pain; I don’t care who they are. The only problem was…how the Hell do I calm him down? I don’t know him that well…I don’t know what calms him down…  
Adeen, please wake up now…  
“Doctor? Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We’re gonna be okay. Listen to me”  
“Are you guys all right?” one of the crewmen asked, with two others following behind him.   
I quickly shooed them away with my arm, trying to get them away from the scene. They quickly recognized who was in the room and went flying back from where they came from. I looked back at Bruce and noticed he was getting worse.   
“We’re gonna be okay, right? I swear on my life, I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never…”  
“YOUR LIFE?” he asked, only this time, it was half Bruce, half Hulk.  
His voice was deep and gruff now, losing his soft, husky voice. He sat up on his knees, arching his head back. His fists clenched into fists. His body began to expand and become a green hue. The seams of his shirt began to rip as his arms began to become larger. His shoes began to rip apart and the bottom of his pants then too. His watch on his wrist snapped off then also. Bruce looked over at me with those chestnut eyes. His eyes were the last things of Bruce I saw. His face was green and dark veins ran through his skin and his brown hair darkened. He thrashed around trying one last failed attempt to control the Hulk and stood up, stumbling over his feet. He caught his balance on the wall beside him, leaving a huge dent in it. I quickly got my foot out from under the pipe and stood up, helping Adeen up as I did so. She began to wake up and looked around. We both looked up at the Hulk at the same time and watched him look sharply down at us. He roared at us and we both began running for our lives. He charged after us in a raged fury, throwing punches at us.   
We hid behind a few pipes. It was silent, a little too silent. I pulled out my gun, ready for whatever came next. Adeen stood next to me, I guess trying to sense where he was. I saw her body go rigid then. That was not a good thing. I looked up to see the Hulk suddenly roar at us. I shot the pipe by his head to try and distract him. I then quickly grabbed Adeen’s arm and ran.  
“Natasha, wait! I can calm him down!”  
“It’s too late for that! We need to run!”  
“It’s not too late! Natasha, let me go!”  
I would have let her go, I would have listened to her, but I was far too scared and I’m never scared. It’s not everyday you have a freakin’ giant seven foot green rage monster running after you. So I kept my hold on Adeen’s arm and dragged her along. We ran down a corridor and the Hulk had followed us. Sparks and fire were blowing everywhere. We both quickly threw our hands over our heads to keep any debris from hitting us. I then felt something hard hit me in the side and I went flying across the room, hitting the wall. I opened my eyes and looked to see Adeen was knocked out again.   
Damn it…I should have listened to her in the first place…now we are both screwed…  
The Hulk stopped for a moment and looked at both Adeen and me. He looked at Adeen then and his face softened then as he went to touch her when Thor came in and tackled him into the hangar. I just sat there in shock and pain. I couldn’t believe that just happened. I had never actually seen the Hulk in person before, mostly just video footage. My head was swimming with a million thoughts at that moment. A monster almost killed me, wait, not a monster, Bruce. Bruce Banner almost killed me. He didn’t mean to attack Adeen or me; I guess he can’t control the Hulk when he’s pissed off. How could someone so shy and quiet have so much anger stored in his body? You wouldn’t think that Bruce would get angry with him being so calm all the time. Oh great, now Thor is just going to piss him off more. This is just going to be great. We are all going to die in the air now. I looked down at Adeen again, a bruise was definitely appearing on her forehead. I really wished she would wake up now and get us out of this mess. She usually always did get us out of situations like this one, but that looked like it wasn’t going to happen.  
ADEEN’S POV  
Everything was black. I couldn’t see a thing. I heard voices over my earpiece but I could understand them. They were very muffled and sounded like they were far away. I tried opening my eyes but they would budge. I began to feel this splitting pain rip through my head as I tried again. I flinched. I definitely hit my head hard on something. I heard a roar in the distant then. I wanted to see where it was coming from but my head nor my eyes would allow it. The voices in my ear began to clear up again. It was Maria, Nick, Steve, Tony, and a few other agents. The two voices that rang out the loudest were Maria’s and Nick’s.  
“Sir, the Hulk will destroy the place!”  
“Someone get over to the Hangar and distract him!”  
My eyes flew open then. Distracting him would mean shooting at him, shooting at him means pissing him off more. I quickly stood up and ran to the hangar, following the sound of his roar. I heard Natasha yell at me to come back, but I ignored her. Right now, I had a job to do and that was to calm Bruce down. I quickly raised my hand up to my ear, skidding around the corner of the hangar with men staring at me like I was crazy.  
“I got the Hulk, Fury, you worry about everything else.” I told him demandingly.  
My head throbbed angrily against my skull but I didn’t care. Adrenaline was beginning to course through my veins and the pain slowly began to ebb away. I was almost to where Thor and The Hulk were fighting.   
“O’Sullivan, stand down! That’s an order!”  
I rolled my eyes at his order.   
“Listen here, Fury…that creature happens to be my best friend…out of all the damn people on this ship, who the Hell do you think is the option to calm him down: a fighter pilot, or me? Now shut the Hell up and let me do my job as an agent!”  
I ran into the room as Thor was thrown against the wall. I saw the Hulk about to approach him when a jet began firing at him. I saw the Hulk raise his arm up to block the bullets and roared at the jet. I quickly ran into the room and tackled the Hulk down before he could leap out of the window.  
“Hold your fire! We have an agent in there!”   
Fury’s voice ordered loudly through my ear as I heard the gunfire halt. The Hulk struggled to break free of my grasp. I was on top of his chest, pinning his shoulders down with my hands. I looked down into his green eyes trying to be as calm as possible. He thrashed his head around, trying to break free then he looked up at me. His breathing was heavy as he slowly began to calm down.  
“Hulk…you have to calm down…Loki is messing with your head…you need to calm down…can you understand me?”  
He continued staring up at me and slowly nodded his head at my question.  
“Good…you need to calm down…Bruce…you have to calm down…we aren’t going to hurt you…Hulk…we aren’t going to hurt you…everything is going to be fine…”  
He was starting to finally calm down. Thor stood up slowly then and began walking towards us. I looked over my shoulder and mouthed the words stop. He stopped in his tracks and looked down at me.  
“Thor…you need to go…and see if Loki is still in his cell…you need to go now…” I calmly told him, trying to keep the stress out of my tone.   
Thor hesitated for a moment then slowly nodded. He picked up his hammer and left the room. I looked back down at the Hulk and saw he was looking curiously up at me.  
“Pretty girl…help Hulk?” he gruffly asked.   
My face went a little warm. Why did he give me that nickname?   
“Yes…I want to help Hulk and Banner.” I answered him soothingly.   
“Why pretty girl want to help Hulk and Banner?”   
“Because I care about you two and I am you and Banner’s friend.”   
Hulk scoffed and looked away.  
“Hulk have no friends.”   
“Yes Hulk has friends. I’m your friend and Stark is your friend.”   
Hulk looked back up at me and slowly nodded his head. He began to change back to normal. In a matter of a minute, lying underneath me was an unconscious Bruce. He slowly began to open his eyes and looked up at me with his chestnut brown eyes. I cupped his face in my hands and looked him the eyes, smiling. He was slightly confused as he gazed up at me.  
“Bruce, are you all right?”  
“I’m fine…Adeen…why are you on top of me…?” he asked slowly.   
“Um, if I told you, you wouldn’t like the answer…” I explained to him, my face getting really hot.   
He began to slowly comprehend what I was saying and his face paled.   
“Adeen, what the Hell were you trying to do!? Get yourself killed! I could have killed you!”  
“Dude, I had you pinned down and calmed you down. The Hulk wouldn’t hurt me. He’s my friend.”  
He looked extremely confused by what I was saying and shook his head.  
“Did I hurt anyone…?” he asked, quietly.  
I froze. I didn’t want to tell him. I really didn’t want to. He noticed the look on my face I’m guessing and looked at me sternly.  
“Adeen, tell me please…”  
“You just kind of knocked me and Natasha out of the way. That’s all…” I half told him the truth.   
He closed his eyes and sighed.   
“Bruce, it’s okay…”  
“I could have killed you both…I could have killed other people…” he interrupted me, opening his eyes again, looking directly into my eyes.  
“But you didn’t so quit beating yourself up about it.”   
He sighed again and started chuckling softly.  
“Fine…are you enjoying your position on top of me or are you just that much in shock you can’t stand up?”   
I’m pretty sure my face went bright red.  
“I’m not at liberty to answer that. Why did the Hulk call me pretty girl? Hmm?”  
This made him go red and shut up. I smirked and got off of him, standing up. I reached out a hand for him to take. He looked at it, and took, grabbing his pants with his free hand. I put his arm around my shoulder to support him up, wrapping an arm around him. Bruce leaned on me a little, unstable after morphing back into his normal self.   
“I really don’t know why Hulk said that…he makes up a lot of nicknames for people…” Bruce answered my question, embarrassed most definitely.  
“No, I think you had control on this one…you think I’m pretty.” I teased lightly, considering the Hell that was going on through out the Hellicarrier. I guess that’s what adrenaline does to you. You forget about everything for a moment.   
“Why must you tease me…?” He asked, chuckling softly.  
“Because I’m your best friend and I’m suppose to make your life Hell…” I answered him, with a smile on my face. “Um, you want a belt to hold your pants up?”  
“That would be nice…” He answered, slightly embarrassed by the fact.  
I propped him up against a wall and removed my belt from their loops on my jeans and handed it to him. He looked at me a little confused.  
“What?” I asked him, still holding the belt out for him.  
“Um, won’t that not fit me?” he asked hesitantly.  
“It’s a man’s belt. I don’t wear girl belts. They don’t fit around me right.”   
He still looked a little wary, then took the belt and wrapped it around his pants at his waist. I then helped him off the wall and we continued walking through the hangar. Everyone was running all over the place. Some stopped and stared at us, shocked that Bruce was back to his normal self. I glared at them and they quickly looked away and continued working. I pulled out my gun, ready to shoot anyone who wasn’t part of SHIELD. We reached the upper level of the ship. I froze when I heard Fury speak again.  
“Agent Coulson is down…”  
Everything seemed to stop. I didn’t want to believe his words. Coulson couldn’t be dead. He…he couldn’t be dead…I didn’t care if people saw me, tears came flowing down my cheeks. Coulson was like my big brother, family, my best friend. And now…he was gone…I felt arms wrap around my shoulders and I instantly knew they were Bruce’s. I wrapped my arms around his waist, laying my head on his bare chest and cried. I had just lost one of the few remaining people that understood me. He was my mentor, he was funny and nice and now he was gone. I could never get him back. First mom, Jade, Wade, my friends in the Marines, now Phil. How many more people was I going to lose before I snapped? I didn’t think I would be able to deal with another loss. I already have seen too much death to last my entire life. If I got the chance, I was going to kill Loki or at least torture him until he begged for mercy. He was going to pay for what he did.


	8. Chapter 8

STEVE’S POV  
All that was left of the team either stood or sat in the bridge. It was dark and silent in there. The ones remaining were Adeen, Bruce, Stark, Fury, and Agent Hill. Natasha was with Clint, trying to get him back to his normal self. We were all just kind of depressed. I looked up at Adeen and saw she was taking Phil’s death the hardest. She just stood there with her arms folded across her chest, staring down at the floor. He eyes showed no life whatsoever in them. Stark just sat there looking sad, propping his head on his hand. Then Bruce sat beside me in new clothes, looking up at Adeen with concern then looking down. He repeated this quite a few times. Fury then pulled something out of his pocket and started walking towards the table.   
“These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them.”  
Fury dropped Phil’s trading cards on the table, only this time blood was covered on them. I sighed and looked away, feeling terrible for not doing that for the man. I glanced up at Adeen and saw she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I then caught a glimpse of Agent Hill and she looked to be in the same state as Adeen only she was taking it much better than Adeen was.   
“We’re dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming.”  
He paused for a moment then continued.  
“Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes.”  
He paused again, looking down at the floor.  
“Well…it’s an old fashioned notion.”  
Adeen clenched her hands into fists then and then just snapped.  
“This is all your guy’s faults! If you guys hadn’t gotten into that damn argument, Thor wouldn’t have been shot out of the Hellicarrier, Loki wouldn’t have escaped, and Phil would still be alive! So shut the Hell up!”  
“It’s his own fault…” Tony mumbled.  
I really wish he would learn to shut up when someone is obviously upset.  
“Excuse me? You wanna say that again to my face?! Phil was a damn good agent and one of the only family I have left! You didn’t know Phil!”  
As she got angrier, her accent got much deeper than it already was.   
“He shouldn’t have tried to take on Loki alone…he should have waited.”   
“He died for a cause. You wouldn’t know that would you, Tony? You don’t know what it’s like, because you are a selfish, ignorant, son of a bitch!”  
“I agree with Agent O’Sullivan…” I sheepishly stated.  
“Thank you, Steve! Ah!”  
Adeen grabbed at her head and side quickly, clenching her eyes shut. I stood up and so did Bruce and Tony. I was beginning to worry and was deeply concerned for Adeen. She looked like she was in a lot of pain.  
“Adeen, are you all right?” I asked, concern in my tone.   
“I’m…fi-“   
Before she finished, her eyes rolled back in her head and she began collapsing to the floor. Nick quickly ran up to her and caught her before she fell. He knelt down on the floor beside her and lifted her jacket up some to show blood soaking her shirt on her side. This began to worry me more. Why didn’t she say anything to us? How did she get injured in the first place? Maria quickly ran over to Adeen’s side and knelt down beside her looking extremely concerned.  
“Adeen, can you hear me? Adeen?”   
Worry was definitely written in Agent Hill’s voice as she spoke.  
Bruce quickly walked over to Adeen and knelt down beside her, lifting her shirt up partially to see the wound. From what it looked like from my view, she had quite a few bullet holes in her one side. She must have had a major adrenaline rush if she managed to not feel any of that until now. I then noticed the huge bruise on her forehead then. I wasn’t about to ask where she got that. It looked pretty bad.   
“She needs medical treatment now. She’s lost a lot of blood.”  
BRUCE’S POV  
I sat by Adeen’s beside, holding her hand. She was still unconscious but her bleeding at finally stopped. I was actually a little surprised by her bullet wounds. When I managed to get the bullets out of her side, the wounds closed up suddenly and it looked as if she didn’t have any injuries whatsoever except for the light scars. She had a lot of those on her abdomen. Her body had definitely been through a lot over the years. Maria brought her in a new tank top and a pair of jeans and helped her put those on. Her arms had old scars from her dad beating her when she was younger. Most of them were visible somewhat but one that was the most visible was the one that ran down her left shoulder to her collarbone. I remembered that day very well. I was actually in the other room when her father gave her that scar. I was the one who had to comfort her and stitch her back up, along with my cousin Jennifer. I shook that memory away from my mind and noticed she had a tattoo on her left bicep muscle. It was a vine going around her bicep and tricep and on the top of it had a small anchor and the words “Sempri Fidelis” written in neat cursive. It was an interesting design.  
I looked back up at her and sighed. I really wish she’d wake up soon, but…she did look extremely peaceful in this state. She didn’t look tired or sad. She did look very beautiful in this state also. She was always very beautiful, awake or asleep. I smiled weakly down at her then looked around the room to see if anyone else was in the room. I noticed I was all alone. Good, I didn’t want people hearing me talk to her.  
“I don’t think I’ve ever told you this before, but you are probably one of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen…knowing you, you would scoff and laugh at me, accusing me of lying to myself because you don’t know it’s the truth…”  
I paused for a moment trying to think of something else to say.   
“You know, I never told you this, but in high school, Jen always pestered me to ask you out…I almost did one time but I got too scared to. She always poked fun at me because I had this huge crush on you from the first day I met you…I…I actually still do think I have feelings for you…but you’re with Clint and…I don’t think you want to be with a guy who turns into a monster when pissed off or upset…you deserve better than that…that’s probably why I keep my feelings repressed from you a lot…I don’t want to see you get hurt…I care for you too much…I want you to be happy…You probably won’t even remember me talking about this because you’re kind of unconscious and I’m basically talking to myself at the moment so I don’t have to worry about you overhearing this…so you should wake up…because the team needs you, the world kind of needs you, and…I need you right now…”  
I looked down at my lap, knowing she probably wasn’t going to wake up for awhile. 

ADEEN’S POV  
I was about to open my eyes when I heard Bruce start talking. I guess he was talking to me because no one else was in the room. My head really hurt also but my side felt much better than before. I laid there on the hospital bed and pretended to sleep so I could listen to what Bruce was saying.   
“I don’t think I’ve ever told you this before, but you are probably one of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen…knowing you, you would scoff and laugh at me, accusing me of lying to myself because you don’t know it’s the truth…”  
I had to fight back the urge to smile. That is something I would do. I was slightly surprised he actually thought I was beautiful. I didn’t know he thought of me in that way.   
“You know, I never told you this, but in high school, Jen always pestered me to ask you out…I almost did one time but I got too scared to. She always poked fun at me because I had this huge crush on you from the first day I met you…I…I actually still do think I have feelings for you…but you’re with Clint and…I don’t think you want to be with a guy who turns into a monster when pissed off or upset…you deserve better than that…that’s probably why I keep my feelings repressed from you a lot…I don’t want to see you get hurt…I care for you too much…I want you to be happy…You probably won’t even remember me talking about this because you’re kind of unconscious and I’m basically talking to myself at the moment so I don’t have to worry about you overhearing this…so you should wake up…because the team needs you, the world kind of needs you, and…I need you right now…”  
Damn it, Bruce…why did you have to be such a sweetheart…? Why didn’t you ask me out when you had the chance? Why didn’t you listen to Jennifer? Why can’t he see I want to be happy with him?   
When I sensed him turn his head from me, I couldn’t help but smirk. The guy I have had a crush on since I was sixteen years old just confessed all of this to me. After all these years, he finally confessed it to me. I pretended to slowly wake up, feeling his hand holding onto mine. I squeezed it lightly and saw him sharply raise his head up, looking down at me. I smiled up at him.   
“Adeen, are you all right?” he asked, concern and relief was definitely hinted in his voice.   
“Oh, you know me…I’m just peachy…hard as nails…” I answered him, sitting up slowly feeling the sting of the pain in my side. I ignored it. “Where are the others?”   
“The others left about ten minutes ago…I volunteered to stay here with you.”  
“Well, what are we waiting for?”   
I threw my legs over the bedside and sat there for a moment looking Bruce directly in the eyes. Bruce looked extremely confused.  
“Um, you do realize, you got shot in four different spots on your side, lost a lot of blood, and have a really bad bruise on your head? You aren’t going anywhere.”  
“Bruce, come on, I’m perfectly fine. I’ve been through worse, plus the team needs us.  
BRUCE’S POV  
“Bruce, come on, I’m perfectly fine. I’ve been through worse, plus the team needs us.”   
I froze. Did she just say the team needs us?   
She must have been mistaken. Why would the team need a monster on their side? I already destroyed parts of the Hellicarrier and almost killed some agents. Her head must be playing tricks on her. I can’t control the Hulk…  
“Um, did you just say us? I think you have been mistaken…”  
“No, you heard me correctly.”  
Damn…  
“Adeen…I…I can’t go…I can’t control him…”   
I looked away from her face, only to feel two very warm and strong hands clasp my face and turn my head back in the direction of her face. I looked up and saw Adeen looking directly into my eyes.   
“Bruce, you can control him…I saw it in front of my own eyes…you can control him. I have faith in you…I believe in you. Out of everyone on this team, I would trust my life with you and the Hulk. That’s how much faith I have in you.”   
She believed that much in me…she entrusted her life to me. That meant a lot to me. Tony and her were probably the only ones who had faith in the Other Guy and me. Why would she put faith in a monster much like myself? I sighed, taking hold of her hands, taking them away from my face and held them. I stroked my thumb gently on her skin. I looked down at our hands then back up at her dazzling eyes. I knew I wasn’t going to win this battle. Plus, she was right in most of what she was saying. The team needed us at the moment. I sighed and nodded my head slowly.  
“All right…let’s go…”  
~10 minutes later~  
I waited for Adeen by the quinjet. I heard footsteps echoing against the metal carrier walls and turned around and was quite caught off guard by her change in appearance. Adeen wore this black modified jumpsuit that looked a lot like Agent Hill’s and Natasha’s only the sleeves were cut to make it into a tank top and the legs were cut to make them look like shorts. It showed the muscular built of her biceps. For a woman, she was extremely ripped. Not trying to be chauvinistic or anything but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman this muscular. Over her hips was a belt with two guns in holsters on both her hips. She wore a black vest that stopped down to wear her curves on the side of her abdomen were. Her hair was down and a mask covered only the eye region of her face. She held her long bo in her hand, twirling it around once in a fluent motion. I seriously think she is trying to personally kill me and everyone who saw her, because she looked very attractive in the get up. She pulled it off well. She walked up to me and stood in front of me.   
“You ready then?” she asked, smiling at me.  
“Ready when you are.”


	9. Chapter 9

Clint’s POV  
Thor joined us by our sides on the ground of the burning down remains of Manhattan. I Held my bow in my hand tightly ready for anything.  
“The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable.” Thor explained to us with a stern voice.  
“Thor is right, we gotta deal with these guys.” Stark told us through our comlinks.  
“How do we do this?” Natasha inquired, looking directly at Captain.  
“As a team.” He answered, looking down at her.  
“I have unfinished business with Loki,” Thor snarled, narrowing his eyes.  
I narrowed my eyes angrily at the sound of Loki’s name being said. I wanted to end that son of a bitch and beat the shit out of him for what he did to me. I gripped my bow tighter and glanced up at the God.  
“Yeah, get in line.” I bitterly stated.  
“Save it. Loki’s gonna keep this fight focused on us and that’s what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he’s gonna need us…”  
He trailed off as he heard what I heard as another quinjet landed a few yards away. The hatch opened and out walked Banner and…Adeen?! What the Hell was my girlfriend doing here?!  
“Adeen, what the Hell are you doing here?!” I asked her in total disbelief.   
“Um…heh…Fury recruited me…” she answered hesitantly.  
It was silent for a moment. Bruce looked around the rubble then back at us in an unusual calmness considering the situation at hand.  
“So, this all seems horrible…” he announced.  
“I’ve seen worse…” Natasha admitted with a slight hesitant tone.  
“Sorry.” Bruce apologized, gazing in her direction.   
“No, we could use a little worse.” She told him slowly.  
“Stark, we got him, Banner, just like you said…and he brought Adeen.”  
“Good. Tell him to suit up. I’m bringing the party to you.”  
And out of the blue, here came Stark with a big ass giant worm thing tagging along behind him. We all began to get in a defensive stance ready to take on whatever you called it. Bruce looked up at it then back at us before nonchalantly walking towards it. Steve took a step forward watching him.  
“I don’t see how that’s a party…” Natasha stated out loud, watching the alien draw nearer  
“Dr. Banner now might be a good time for you to get angry.” Steve told him.  
Bruce chuckled softly, stopping in his tracks, turning his head slightly to look over his right shoulder at the Captain.  
“That’s my secret, Captain…I’m always angry.”  
He then swung his right arm like he was going to punch and morphed into the Hulk, punching the alien in the face, skidding backwards some as the other side of the alien lifted into the air. Stark then shot a rocket at it and it began to blow up. I grabbed Adeen and pulled her down to the ground behind a toppled over vehicle, covering her with my so she wouldn’t get hurt. Once the alien was down we slowly stood up and looked at the Hulk.  
“Now that was sexy…” Adeen admitted smiling.  
“Adeen!” I exclaimed, not believing she just said that in front of me.  
“Sorry, babe, but it’s true.”  
I let out a long sigh and we walked over to the others. Natasha was looking up at the sky as Tony stood beside her. They were both watching as more aliens came through the portal.  
“Guys…” Natasha told us, drawing our attentions.  
“Call it, Captain,” Tony ordered lightly.  
“All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we’re gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it around or you turn it to ash.”  
I turned my attention to Stark.  
“Wanna give me a lift?”  
“Right. Better clench up, Legolas.”  
Steve’s POV  
Once Tony lifted Barton up to the building, I looked over at Thor.  
“Thor, you’ve gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You’ve got the lightning, light the bastards up.”  
He nodded and twirled his hammer around fluently and flew into the air. I then turned to Natasha.  
“You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here.” She nodded, holding her guns in a readied position. I then finally looked over at Adeen and Hulk. “Hulk and Adeen.”  
They both sharply turned their heads towards me waiting for their instructions. I raised my hand and pointed at them.  
“Smash.” I told them.  
They both smirked in a somewhat mischievous way after I said that.  
“With pleasure…” Adeen slyly answered, hopping onto the Hulk’s back. He then leapt into the air and were off to fight.  
Adeen’s POV  
I clung onto the Hulk’s neck as he leapt into the air. I clenched my eyes shut scared for my life. I wasn’t scared of Hulk. I trusted him with my life. No, what I was fearing was the heights and the drop to the ground below. Heights were no friend to me, no siree. It’s so bad, I’m frightened to jump down from a chair… sometimes I wonder how I’m in SHIELD with my many phobias… anyway! The Hulk landed on the ground after beating the shit out of a few Chitauri alien scum. I hopped down from his back and trembled slightly. I buckled forward a little trying to regain my equilibrium.  
BOOM! CRASH! BANG!  
I heard that as I looked down at the ground. I slowly looked up to see the Hulk keeping Chitauri aliens from getting anywhere near me. I smiled and ran up to one of the aliens and punched it in the face, smashing his face into his skull. I then turned my attention to another one coming towards me with his staff thing. I grabbed it and flipped him over my head slamming him into the rooftop. I then took the staff from him and quickly pressed it to the ground in a vertical position and hoisted myself into the air spinning around it once, kicking the aliens surrounding me. I landed on the ground gracefully crouching down low. I then slowly stood up and looked down at the staff. I broke it in half then threw them at two aliens, watching as the metallic rods protruded through their metal suits, killing them on impact. I pulled out my two guns and began shooting at the aliens trying to attack Hulk from behind. Hulk let out an earsplitting roar at the oncoming aliens and charged at them ripping and smashing them easily. I ran out of bullets and smashed my guns into the heads of two very unlucky Chitauri. I then felt something hit me in the gut and the next thing I knew, I was falling off the roof.  
I screamed as I began to fall towards the ground 20 stories below me. I then felt someone catch me and hold me close to him. My eyes were clenched shut but I slowly pried them open to reveal a man with a suit of armor on. His mask was open and he looked at me.  
“Thanks, Tony…” I told him softly, relieved that he had caught me.  
“No problem, sweetheart.” He told me, winking at me before he put his mask back on.  
I blushed slightly. He still had that way of doing that to me even though I had broken up with him. I felt him land and he set me down.  
“I love you ground…” I announced, relieved I was back on the ground…again.  
I heard Stark laugh then he flew off. Making sure he wasn’t looking, I bent over and kissed the ground then got up and ran to begin fighting again. I heard Hulk roar a short ways away and ran in that direction. I stopped when I saw him punch Thor through a wall. I flinched a little bit but I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. I quickly walked after Hulk, teaming back up with my partner. Chitauri were surrounding him so I quickly started violently punching and kicking my way through. Once and a while, I would throw anything I could pick up at them. I saw Hulk move his arms to clap so I got down low so the force wouldn’t blast me. Chitauri went flying backwards, crashing into buildings. I stood up again and looked up at Hulk, smiling.  
“Good job, buddy.”   
He looked down at me and nodded. He looked down at me suddenly with a soft expression like he had been concerned about what happened to me. Then something shot at the back of his head and we both sharply looked up at the sky seeing the flying aliens surround us pointing their glowing blue staff things at us. Hulk quickly grabbed me and protected me with his body as they began firing at us. I closed my eyes slightly frightened as we waited for it to cease. I was worried about Hulk taking all those hits knowing that must have hurt him. Suddenly over the COM, I heard the shattering of glass and groans. I tried to find out who it was but then the firing ceased. Hulk turned his head to look at the flying aliens and roared. I covered my ears just in time. I stayed close to him trying to stay calm. I wanted to know if Clint and the others were all right. I hadn’t heard his voice in a while and I had an idea that he was the one who crashed through the glass. I then heard the crashing of rubble start coming down towards us and felt the Hulk tense up some, trying to keep himself up. I heard the buzzing of the Chitauri fly away and knew they had left us alone. I put my hand up to my ear and tried to get in touch with Clint.  
“Clint? Are you there? Please say something…”


	10. Chapter 10

Hulk’s POV  
Addie walked up to Hulk after Hulk smash metal guys. Addie smiled at Hulk and looked up at Hulk.  
“Good job, buddy.” She told Hulk.  
Hulk liked Addie, understanding why Banner liked her too. She nice to Hulk and puny man. Hulk wondered what happened to Addie earlier when she disappeared from Hulk. Hulk thought metal guys took Addie. Hulk then felt something smash back of head and turned attention to metal guys flying in air. Hulk had to keep Addie safe so Hulk grabbed and protected her using Hulk as shield. Hulk could tell Addie was scared some but not at Hulk. Hulk would do anything to keep Addie safe from harm. Hulk felt stone land on back and tensed up to keep standing up. Hulk had to keep self together and stay standing so not to crush Addie.   
Adeen’s POV   
I waited for Clint to respond back. I was becoming even more scared when I didn’t hear him for minutes. My heart seriously felt like it was beating 20 times a minute and my breathing began to pick up a little bit, suddenly unable to breathe. I couldn’t lose Clint again. I wasn’t about to let that happen. Not when I just got him back. I then heard someone cough and groan softly.   
“I’m here, babe…you ain’t losing me that fast.” Clint answered me, chuckling weakly on the other side of the COM link.  
I let out a sigh and was so relieved that he was fine. I laughed a little bit, glad to hear his voice again.   
“Good…don’t do that ever again to me, Clinton Francis…or I will kick you ass…”  
He laughed at this, hearing him grunt as he was standing up I guessed.   
“Sorry, Aid. Won’t do it again. I like messin’ with your head.”  
“I know you do…what is the situation now? I’ve lost communication with the others. All I hear is buzzing when I try to communicate with them.”  
“I’m not really sure. I’ll try to get a hold of them.”  
The Hulk then stood up straighter, pushing the rubble off of him and helped me out of the rubble. I looked up seeing Stark Towers right beside us with Loki heading in our direction. I smirked and looked up at the Hulk with an idea forming in my head.  
“Hey, Hulk…you wanna pay the God of Mischief a little visit…?” I asked him slyly.  
He looked up and smirked. I chuckled darkly and hopped onto his back again and he leapt into the hair grabbing Loki and threw him into Stark Towers. Hulk leapt into the room he had thrown Loki and landed on the floor, me hopping off his back. Hulk started going after him when Loki stood up glaring at us.   
“Enough! You are all beneath me! I am a God you dull creature and bitch and I will not be bullied by…”  
Before he even knew it, he was being smashed around by Hulk. I smirked and actually thought that looked kind of fun, smashing Loki around like that. I looked up at Hulk.  
“Hey, Hulk, can I have a go at that?” I asked him mischievously.  
Hulk smirked and threw Loki at me. I smirked and caught Loki by the ankle and flipped him over my head a few times, making him collide with the floor a few times. The last time I smashed him onto the floor, I just left him there. Hulk and I began to walk away from the whimpering God in pain.  
“Puny God…” Hulk mumbled looking over his shoulder once.  
I began laughing at this and shook my head lightly.   
“I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!”   
I heard Natasha’s voice ring through my ear.   
“I copy you.” I assured her.  
“Do it!” Steve explained.  
“No, wait!” Tony exclaimed urgently.  
“Stark, these things are still coming!” Steve explained to him, trying to reason with him.  
“I got a nuke coming in, it’s gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it.”  
“Stark, you know that’s a one way trip.” I told him, realizing what he was trying to say.  
Hulk and I then stopped as we watched Tony sly up Stark Towers with the nuke in his hands. I hurried over to the balcony and looked up watching him enter into the portal. An explosion then went off and I looked around seeing all the Chitauri aliens dropped dead simultaneously. We waited for Stark to come through the portal but we didn’t see him.   
“Close it…” Steve quietly ordered Natasha.   
The portal then began to close and just when you thought a miracle couldn’t happen, just when it was about to close entirely, here came Stark falling through the hole. I smiled but then the smile disappeared when I noticed he wasn’t slowing down.   
“Guys, he’s not slowing down!” I exclaimed with worry in my tone. I looked over at the Hulk, fear beginning to consume my body. “Hulk! Do something!”   
He nodded quickly and grabbed me in his arms and leapt into the air towards Tony. I grabbed Tony’s arm and pulled him towards me and held him close as Hulk protectively kept us secure in his arm. He grabbed onto the building and slid down it until he got closer to the ground. He then jumped and landed on his back, skidding to a stop. I got out of Hulk’s hold and put Tony down, ripping his mask off. Thor and Steve ran over to Tony and knelt down beside him. Steve bent down towards his face trying to hear if he was breathing. Tony appeared to be dead to them all of us and that saddened me. I didn’t want to believe Stark was dead. He couldn’t be. The son of a bitch had better come back to life. Hulk then roared angrily at Tony and Tony then jumped snapping his eyes open suddenly looking around and wondering what the Hell just happened.  
“What the Hell?! What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?”  
Steve and I just laughed at him and sighed in relief he was all right. Steve looked at us with a small smile on his face.   
“We won…” he said softly, slightly in shock.  
Tony looked at us as he continued looking between us.   
“All right. Hey. All right. Good job, guys. Let’s just not come in tomorrow. Let’s just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There’s a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don’t know what it is, but I wanna try it.”  
“We’re not finished yet.” Thor announced, with Steve looking up at him tiredly.  
“And then shawarma after?” Tony asked.   
I laughed and nodded my head down at him.  
“Yes, Tony…and shawarma after…” I softly told him.   
*~*~*  
We stood over Loki, looking down at him. I stood beside Hulk and behind Clint glaring down at him. He scanned his eyes around, looking each of us in the eyes, Clint pointing his bow and arrow directly at his face.  
“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now…” Loki told us softly.


	11. Chapter 11

ADEEN’S POV  
“I am not going.” I stubbornly answered, folding my arms across my chest.  
“Adeen, you have to go…all the Avengers have to go.” Steve told me with everyone else standing there waiting for me to say yes.   
“Um, have you all forgotten New York is not a fan of people like me?”   
“You helped save the world, they won’t think anything about that.” Tony answered.  
“What’s the event again?” I asked, trying to think over my decision.   
“It’s a benefit to help rebuild Manhattan that the mayor is throwing to thank us.” Steve answered my question.  
“Is this a formal thing?” I asked, trying not to sound whiney.  
“Yes…yes it is.” Natasha answered instead this time.  
“Ugg…”  
“Come on, Adeen, Brucie is going for goodness sakes and he’s got more of an anger problem than you.” Tony explained, now sounding like he was pleading.  
“Thanks, Tony, you’re such a good friend…” Bruce sighed with a sarcastic grin on his face.  
“Fine, but I’m only going because Bruce is going…”  
“Okay, we’re going to go get ready now.” Pepper stated, and her and Natasha had to basically drag me out of the room.   
I was seriously not looking forward to this. I hate formal outings. I feel awkward and out of place. I’m a country girl, not an elegant girly girl. I was also very awkward about these things because of my body built. I was not skinny like Natasha or Pepper. I was like in the middle of skinny and fat in my terms. I am 5”6’ and muscularly built and dressing up was hard for me to do. This was not going to be fun…

TWO HOURS LATER  
I walked down with Natasha and Pepper. We were meeting the guys down in the lobby. I felt awkward because Natasha and Pepper looked so much better than me. Natasha had a black flowing gown and black 4-inch heels, with her dazzling red hair curled more than usual with her lips painted red. Pepper had a pretty dark blue flowing gown and gold-colored 4-inch heels, with her strawberry blonde hair curled in a ponytail that draped over the side of her shoulder. Me, I was wearing a purple, strapless gown, leaving my shoulders bare, that was ruffled at the bottom in black wedges, with my hair in its usual curly state (Nat and Pepper thought it was prettier that way for some reason) with light green eye shadow, black eye liner, and mascara. They were not making me wear freaking 4-inch heels. I would have killed myself walking in there and make myself look like a fool. I felt weird and awkward and not myself. I also started wondering why they had me wear purple and put on green eye shadow. It was probably Tony’s way of torturing Bruce or Clint. Especially the comment I made during the battle must have gotten some crazy idea in Tony’s head.   
We finally got down to the lobby. When I saw the guys, I started turning around and walking back to the elevator. Pepper and Natasha noticed this and quickly grabbed my arms and basically dragged me again over to the guys. I could have used my super strength to break away from their grip but I didn’t want to hurt them. I then turned back around and was completely shocked at what I saw. I almost didn’t recognize Bruce. He was in a black tux and had his hair slicked back, taming his brown curls. He looked freaking sexy standing there with his hands in his pockets. I could so tell he was not comfortable doing this. Then I looked at Clint. He looked even more awkward. I had never seen him in a tux before but he worked it pretty well. I looked over to Thor and had to giggle a little because he looked quite dashing in his suit with his hair back in a short ponytail. Steve looked awkward standing there too in his nice suit. And then, there was Tony standing there all confident-like. The guys noticed us finally and stood up straight. My face went really red when I noticed Bruce staring at me with one of his signature smiles. I looked down completely embarrassed. I then heard Tony bust out laughing.  
“Haha! Hulk’s number one fan right there! You should have heard the comment she made during the battle.”  
“Am I missing something?” Bruce asked, completely confused.   
Oh shit…  
“When you hulk’d out she said you looked-OW!” Tony started explaining until I kicked him hard in the crotch. Everyone started laughing except for Tony.  
“I said nothing! Nothing your handsome…I mean attractive little head...I mean…ugg…I’m shutting up now…”   
I’m pretty sure my face was a bright red now because my face was really warm. Natasha was trying not to snicker, Pepper was trying not to smile while helping Tony out the door, Thor was booming in laughter, following Tony, while Steve just shook his head with a smirk on his face following behind Tony and Pepper. I looked up at Bruce and his face went a little red, but had his amazing smile lighting up his face. Bruce held out his arm for me. I looked at it and smiled lightly, taking his arm and started walking out of the building. I took a quick look around my shoulder and saw Clint giving Bruce this deadly glare. I quickly looked around and had to smile a little bit. I felt bad for smiling but Clint needed to loosen up a little bit and put a little more trust in me. 

NATASHA’S P.O.V  
I could so tell Clint was pissed off about the whole situation. His girlfriend was basically in the arms of another guy in a way but I couldn’t help but smile at the two. They looked so cute together. Pepper even agreed with me. I seriously don’t know what she sees in Clint when I know she is into Bruce more. She always gets nervous and flirty around him. The two of them are totally oblivious to one another’s emotions, and that is sad because Adeen can read people’s emotions like a book. She even told me the other day she had problems trying to read Bruce’s emotions because he kept them locked up tight.   
I looked at Clint who was giving Bruce’s back a deadly glare and took his arm into mine and smiled.   
“Calm down, Lover boy. Let’s go.”  
I then lead him outside Stark Towers.

BENEFIT   
ADEEN’S P.O.V

Someone please shoot me now. Crowds and me do not agree with each other. I’m seriously about to explode in the inside. If it hadn’t been for Bruce, and the others (except Clint really), I would have run out of there. Clint was avoiding me big time. I was pretty sure he was pissed off about my little scene back at the tower. The entire place was packed with congressmen, businessmen, senators, governors, mayors, other important people, and there I stood, feeling totally out of place. I could already sense people felt uneasy with me being there. I grabbed Bruce’s hand, beginning to freak out. He squeezed my hand lightly in a reassuring way. I took a deep breath and the mayor basically forced us to come up to the stage in the front of the room. I stayed close to Bruce; he was holding my hand behind our backs so the press couldn’t see and so I could remain calm. We were about to step off stage when Tony asked for the microphone. Oh great, this should be good.  
“Hello good people. I would like our very own, Adeen O’Sullivan to come up here and sing a fun song for you all.”   
I froze and panic was written on my face. What did Tony do? What did he just say? I could tell the others saw my face. They all had the same worried faces. Clint and Bruce were standing beside me trying to get me to relax and to breathe again. I slowly walked back up the stage and beside Tony. He wrapped his arm around me and I faked a smile, failing at covering the fear on my face. He smiled down at me with that mischievous grin he always gave when he was up to something. He was planning to embarrass me in front of all these people. He handed me the microphone and patted my back.   
“Good luck, kid.” He told me, before rejoining the team on the side of the stage.   
I looked over the crowd and nervously laughed, smiling at them all. They all were staring at me.  
“H-hi, ya’ll…um…I seriously…do not know what Tony has in store for you guys…he’s seriously in trouble later on if this turns out to be the end of me.”  
Quite a few people actually laughed at that statement. The music started and I really wanted to die of embarrassment… Stark was having me freakin’ sing Per Te by Il Volo…really? He is lucky I happen to love this group and I’m omnilinquistic and know the song by heart and sing opera. God, I swear I’m going to kill him when this night was over… I had to wait for the long introduction before I began singing the song…in Italian…  
Sento nell'aria il profumo di te Piccoli sogni vissuti con me Ora lo so non voglio perderti Quella dolcezza cosi' senza età La tua bellezza rivali non ha Il cuore mio vuole soltanto te  
Per te per te vivrò L'amore vincerà Con te con te io avrò Mille giorni di felicità  
Mille notti di serenità  
Darò tutto l'amore che ho per te  
Dimmi che tu già il futuro lo sai Dimmi che questo non finirà mai Senza di te non voglio esistere Per te per te vivrò  
L'amore vincerà  
Con te con te io avrò  
Mille giorni di felicità  
Mille notti di serenità  
Darò tutto l'amore che ho  
Per te  
Non devo dirtelo Ormai già lo sai Che morirei  
Senza di te Per te per te vivrò  
L'amore vincerà  
Con te von te farò  
Tutto quello che mi chiedorai  
Andrò sempre dovunque tu andrai  
Darò tutto l'amore che ho Per te

I was actually surprised I got a big applause for singing such a different and operatic pop song. I nervously smiled at the ground and made a short bow. If the nice gentleman hadn’t taken the microphone from me, it would have been crumbled into a million little pieces. My entire body was shaking furiously. Clint took my arm and helped me down the stairs and stood in front of me checking if I was okay.   
“Are you all right, babe? You are pale and shaking.”  
“Do you need to sit down?” Bruce asked, concern written in his tone.  
I just stared straight ahead.  
“Scotch. I just need scotch.”   
Clint took my arm and led me to the bar. I was still shell-shocked by the whole stage thing.


	12. Chapter 12

STEVE’S POV  
I felt so bad for Adeen. She looked like she had seen a ghost. She looked so pale and scared standing on that stage by herself, singing some song I had never heard of in my life, in front of her family and people she had no clue who they were. I was so going to kill Tony for doing that to Adeen. I knew he did it because she basically kicked him in the crotch earlier. I wouldn’t have blamed her. She didn’t want Bruce to know the comment she made during the battle. She was embarrassed that she blurted it out in the first place. I looked over to see Pepper smack Tony across the back of the head. I couldn’t help but snicker. He deserved that after that whole little episode. I watched as Clint led Adeen away from the others. She was shaken-up badly, but I don’t know why. I thought she sounded wonderful. I seriously didn’t know why she was in S.H.I.E.L.D when she had a voice like that. I found it amazing and mind-blowing that she could sing opera when she had that southern belle accent. After awhile, Adeen and Clint came back, I almost half suspected her to be carrying the whole bottle of scotch when she got back but she only had a cup with her. That was probably a good thing. I never want to know how she can get when she’s drunk. I’ve seen her angry and that was quite frightening; even through all the Hell I’ve gone through, she was scarier.   
She finally walked over to us and gulped down her drink.   
“Tony…if you ever make me do that again without warning…I will seriously kick you harder in the crotch, that your grandchildren will be in pain…” Adeen threatened venomously only with a very sweet smile on her face.   
Tony didn’t look like he was bothered by this threat but I could see it in his eyes he was a little scared. I laughed silently and smiled at Adeen.  
“If it makes you feel better, I thought you did a beautiful job.” I admitted to her.  
Her face went really red and a big toothy grin appeared on her face.  
“Thank you, Steve…I haven’t done something like that since college…” her voice trembled as she confessed.  
I was kind of shocked. She sounded as if she had always done this.   
“Well it was amazing, beautiful, and intense.” Natasha spoke up; she was actually smiling for once.   
Clint wrapped an arm around Adeen’s shoulders and kissed her gently on the top of her head. Adeen smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. I looked over at Bruce and could see the uneasiness in his body language. He hid it pretty well but I could tell he wasn’t really comfortable about seeing them act like that.   
“What language were you singing in Adeen?” Thor suddenly asked.   
I jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. He was quiet for quite a long time. It was actually unbelievable that he remained silent for such a long time. Adeen smiled up at the Asgardian.  
“Italian. Il Volo is my favorite operatic pop bands.”   
“But how did you know the language that well?” Thor asked; a very confused expression was read on his face.  
“You can say, I have the power of omnilinguism, so it allows me to learn, speak, or understand any language from anywhere fluently.” She explained.   
Is there anything she can’t do? Man, this girl had some pretty useful powers.   
“I think us girls are going to go walk around some and leave you boys to yourselves.” Pepper said in her usual slow and calm manner. She gently grabbed Natasha and Adeen’s, arm pulling them into the crowd. 

BRUCE’S POV  
I watched him wrap his arm around her and kiss her on the head. For some reason, it bothered me extremely that they were together. I wished they weren’t together for some reason. I was happy that Adeen was happy, but I didn’t like it that Clint was the one making her happy. I wanted to make her happy. But then again, how would the beast make her happy? I was a monster and I was scared I would hurt her. I don’t know what I’d do if I hurt Adeen. She was smart, beautiful, sweet, understanding…everything I saw in a girl and she was taken by the likes of a guy like Clint. It pained me inside to see this. Thor began to ask her questions about the song she sang. I hadn’t heard her sing in years, but she sounded more beautiful than ever this evening. That was, I believe, the best I’ve heard from her. Her voice was so enchanting and she put so much emotion and expression into the song…  
And there I go again…  
“I think us girls are going to go walk around some and leave you boys to yourselves.” Pepper said before dragging Natasha and Adeen away.  
I saw Adeen look back and her eyes met mine. I saw her mouth the words help with a sarcastic pleading expression. She smiled at me and this made me smile back and laugh at her.  
PEPPER’S POV  
“I think us girls are going to walk around some and leave you boys to yourselves.” I announced, dragging Natasha and Adeen with me.  
I looked over my shoulder and saw Adeen look back at Bruce. I looked at him and he smiled and laughed.  
Oh my gosh, will those two just date already?   
They obviously liked each other. The whole team could see this! They were so adorable together, but no…they both are completely oblivious to the fact and Adeen is in a relationship with Clint. I’m sorry, but I can see Natasha with Clint, not Adeen with Clint. She’s so sweet and understanding and likes talking. Clint doesn’t like talking much… This is really mean, but I seriously wish they would break up already. That was mean, but it would make Bruce a whole lot happier when around Clint and her. So I was dragging Natasha and Adeen away from the guys so at least some of the tension would break.   
“Pepper, what are we doing?” Adeen and Natasha both asked at the exact same time. They looked at each other for a moment then started laughing.   
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Natasha laugh before so that was new and I had no clue they were friends. I couldn’t help but join in with their laughter.   
“I just thought we could get away from the guys for awhile. You guys must get tired with being around them all the time.”  
“It actually does get tiring, especially if you are surrounded by them.” Natasha explained.   
“Just a bit…” Adeen absentmindedly stated looking around her shoulder.   
I smiled. I knew who she was looking for.  
“Girl, when are you going to figure it out?” Natasha asked for me.   
Adeen whipped her head back towards us with confusion written on her face.   
“What are you talking about?”  
“About you and Bruce, we all know you two like each other.” I answered this time.  
Adeen’s face went bright red. She looked down at the floor.  
“I don’t know what you are talking about…”  
“Sweetheart, you two have been flirting with each other since you two arrived on the Hellicarrier together…Tony told me some more stuff that went down also…” Natasha answered with a smirk on her face.  
I WASN’T BEING TOLD THE WHOLE STORY?!  
“Wow, wow, wow! What happened on the carrier?”   
Adeen was crazy red now.   
“Nothing like that happened!” she exclaimed, covering her face with her hair. “What did Tony tell you?”  
“Well all he told me was that he walked in on you guys when you two were like really close to each other and told me you guys looked like you were about to kiss.” Natasha explained.   
Adeen took a deep breath and sighed.   
“Okay, few. He didn’t make it sound like something worse than that.”  
“Oh he did, but I knew he was lying and just watched the video footage.”   
Adeen shot a look up at Natasha.  
“I want that tape destroyed when we get out of here…Clint would kill me if he saw that.”   
“Oh, I handled that for you already.”   
“Thank you Natasha…”  
“Why didn’t you talk to us about it?” I asked.  
“I was going to but I never got the chance to talk to you both, plus Clint is always with Natasha or me so it’s kind of hard.”  
“That’s when you tell him to go away for a little bit.” I answered.   
Adeen laughed and looked at me.  
“Yeah, wish me luck on that one. Ever since he got out of Loki’s trance he’s been my shadow. He kind of reminds me of a lost puppy in a way.”   
This made both Natasha and I laugh. What she just said was so true.   
“That is so true.” I stated  
“Okay enough about him, I think you should dance with Bruce…” Natasha stated with a mischievous look on her face.  
“Um, no.” Adeen quickly said.  
“Awe, why not!?” I asked.  
“Um, 1) my boyfriend is here 2) paparazzi is here 3) I don’t dance and 4) my boyfriend is here.” Adeen named off all the reasons.  
I rolled my eyes.   
“Adeen, it’s just one dance. If you want, we can distract Clint for you and plus the paparazzi won’t pay any attention to you guys. Just stay behind a whole bunch of congressmen and such. Come on, you know you want to dance with him.”  
I saw Adeen smile slightly as Natasha explained. I knew she was thinking about it. She sighed and ran her hand through her curls.   
“Fine…” she finally agreed after a couple minutes of silent thinking.   
Natasha and I both looked at each other with smirks on our faces. We looked back at Adeen and turned her around and slightly pushed her.  
“Well then go ahead and go ask.” We both told her.   
She turned her head and shot us a glare but we just smiled and waved.  
TONY’S POV  
We managed to get Thor to distract Clint while Steve and I talked to Bruce. We had to get Bruce a chance with Adeen. We knew how he felt about her. It wasn’t that hard to see. Even Thor noticed and that is seriously saying something right there. Once we were positive Thor had started a conversation with Clint, we both looked at Bruce. He seemed rather confused on why we were looking at him.  
“What?”  
“Just ask Adeen to dance, Bruce.” Steve told him.  
“Um, where did that come from?” Bruce asked hesitantly and even more confused.  
“We know you want to.” I added, “YOU know you want to.”   
“What are you guys talking about? I don’t know how to dance and I doubt she would dance with me.”   
Was he really clueless on his feelings? Really? Oh my, Bruce, you are the smartest guy I know and you can’t even determine what your feelings are for her?   
“I’m not so sure about that.” Steve answered.  
“Yeah, and why do you say that?” Bruce asked.   
“Dude, she’s totally in love with you.” I answered this time.  
“Uh huh…sure guys…real funny…”   
He thought this was a joke?! Oh come on Brucie! We aren’t that mean!   
“I don’t lie.” Steve told him with a straight face.   
“You know what, I think you can’t handle the truth buddy…you know you two have a thing for each other.” I explained to him.  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Bruce exclaimed.  
Yup, he was very confused and oblivious. What was I going to do with him? I took a deep breath.  
“Damn it man! You are oblivious to your feelings. Okay, let me give you some examples: 1) you guys flirt all the time, 2) you two almost kissed if you don’t remember that, 3) you two are happier together, 4) do you pay attention to the way she acts around you and 5) YOU LIKE HER!”  
“I…you’re right…” Bruce started realizing this was all true of what I said.  
“By Jove, we finally got to you man!” Steve exclaimed, relieved.   
“Now go ask her!” I added.  
“Do I have to?...” Bruce shyly asked, the look he was giving looked as if asking her a simple question would be the end of him.   
“YES!” Both Steve and I answered him.  
I saw Bruce put his hands in his pocket and start rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. He was stalling. I knew he was stalling. He had that gaze in his eyes. I was not having him back out of this. He knew he wanted to be with her right now instead of us.   
“What if she says no though?...”  
“She won’t say no.” Steve answered.   
“Ugg…this is embarrassing…if she says no, I’m letting the Hulk beat the shit out of both of ya’ll.”  
Did Bruce Banner just say ya’ll? Oh my God, this just got more interesting and funny. I couldn’t resist.  
“Wow, you are hanging out with Adeen to much. You are starting to sound like her. That is so cute!”   
“Tony, I swear to God…shut up…” Bruce mumbled.  
Steve gave him a gently push.  
“Just go already, we’ll distract Clint.” Steve ordered with a smile on his face.  
“Fine...” Bruce grumbled and started walking away towards where Adeen and the girls were.


	13. Chapter 13

BRUCE’S POV  
Why must my friends get involved in my love life? Did they really think I was incapable of asking a girl to dance? Psh, psh, you know what, I’m going to prove to them I can…even if I do end up humiliating myself and want to crawl under a rock for the rest of my life…If only the guys understood why I tried to keep my emotions from Adeen secret and didn’t want to be in a relationship, they would probably still say the same thing they said to me just now…ugg…tonight was going to be a long night. Distracted by my thoughts, I bumped into someone. Jeesh, I felt as if I walked into a brick wall. I looked to see who it was and held my breath. It was Adeen. Oh God, I guess I can’t get myself out of this one. She looked up at me and smiled as she realized it was me.   
“Sorry.” We both ended up saying together.   
Her face began to turn red.  
“Um, can I ask you something?” we both asked at the same time.  
Oh my God…this was getting creepy…  
“You first… no you…” we both said again.  
She took a deep breath and sighed, trying to not laugh.  
“You go first.” She calmly told me.  
I took my hands out of my pockets then and ran my hand through my hair. Why was I so nervous? It was just Adeen…well…oh my God…why is this so difficult? I could feel the back of my head being drilled through by Steve and Tony’s stares. Adeen’s face blushed more and her signature smile appeared on her face, making her look even more beautiful.   
“I was about to come ask you the same thing…I would love to dance with you…” she shyly answered.  
Wait, she was coming over to ask me the same thing? Wow…I guess Tony and Steve were right…   
“Every morning, watch you walking  
Sunlight on your skin   
Stand there staring, my hand shaking   
My heart caving in  
You walk by on the street  
Take my breath from me   
You're out of my reach   
You'll all that I see”  
I held out my arm for her and she took it. I’m pretty sure she had to help me lead her to the dance floor where other people were dancing to the new song that came on over the speakers. She stopped and faced me with a smile on her face. I returned the smile as I faced her. She placed her one arm on my shoulder and took my other hand into hers. I wrapped my free arm around her waist and pulled her a little closer to me. I hadn’t done something like this in a long time. As we swayed to the music, I snuck a peak over where Tony and Steve were. I wish I hadn’t because they were smiling and wagging thumbs ups in my direction. I buried my head on Adeen’s shoulder trying not to die of embarrassment. I heard her soft chuckle.  
“Painfully beautiful, so beautiful   
It breaks my heart   
Shamefully beautiful   
And I, I can't look away   
It makes my heart ache   
You're painfully beautiful”  
“You have a peanut gallery too?” she quietly whispered in my ear so no one else could hear.  
I raised my head and looked down into her eyes.  
“Yeah…basically.”   
She laughed lightly.   
We were silent for a little bit. I began to listen to the song they were playing so I wouldn’t have a nervous breakdown in front of Adeen.  
“In the evening, I'm there waiting   
For one look at you   
See your shadow in the window   
You come into view   
I can't think, I can't speak   
Steal my heart from me   
You're out of my league   
I fall at your feet”  
Really? Okay did the song really have to be basically talking about my emotions? I swear if Tony was behind this, I was going to kill him. I looked down at Adeen and admired her beauty and the way her smile laid on her lips. She must know the song well because she was moving her lips to the lyrics.   
“You know this song?” I asked her quietly.  
She nodded and smiled.  
“It’s called ‘Painfully Beautiful’ by Il Volo. It’s one of my favorite songs by them.”  
“It’s a very beautiful song…much like yourself…” I told her.  
Oh my god, did that really just come out of my mouth?  
Her face went really red and she looked away from me with a smile on her face then looked back up at me. Her breathtaking blue eyes were filled with happiness and were filled with life. I loved that about her…she always had that certain energy and glow about her that made anyone smile. I began wondering how I made her happy when she was around me. Why would someone be happy with a monster like myself? It made no sense. She was an angel and I was the beast parents told their children about at night to bring fear to them. I wanted nothing more than to make her happy all the time but she was with Clint and probably would never be with me.   
“Beautiful? You think I’m…beautiful?”   
She seemed confused by this by the look in her eyes. Did she not know that she was?   
“Yes, you are very beautiful…” I answered quietly, gazing into her eyes.   
We stopped swaying for a moment and just looked each other in the eyes. I began to slowly lean down towards her as she began to lean up towards me.  
“I, I would die for one kiss   
But you don't even know, I exist  
You're out of my reach”  
You're all that I see  
Our lips barely touched before someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to find Clint glaring at me. His arms were behind his back but I could only guess they were balled up into fists. His shoulders were tensed up and his eyes were narrowed.   
“You mind if I cut in?” He asked rather calmly.  
“No…not at all…” I told him quietly.   
I let go of Adeen and began walking away.  
“Bruce, wait…” I heard Adeen plead in her soft voice.  
I turned around slightly to look at her as I walked away, putting my hands in my pocket.  
“I’ll talk to you later, Aid…” I managed to get out, faking a small smile.  
“Painfully beautiful, so beautiful   
It breaks my heart   
Shamefully beautiful   
And I, I can't look away   
It makes my heart ache   
You're painfully beautiful   
You're painfully beautiful   
You're painfully beautiful”  
Once I began walking back towards Thor, Tony, and Steve, I stopped and looked back, watching Clint and Adeen. As the song ended, he leaned down towards her and kissed her. The Other Guy was pounding at the back of my head for some reason and what I just saw hurt me to an extent. I continued walking back to the others. I stopped when I got to them and I could tell they knew that I was bothered by that act Clint pulled.  
“You okay, Bruce? We tried to keep him from bothering you guys…”  
“Yeah…I’m fine…I’m going to head back to the tower…I’ll…I’ll talk to you guys later…”  
I continued walking and left the benefit without looking back. I was tired, had a headache, and was hurt.   
THOR’S POV  
I was trying hard to distract Clint so Banner could be with Adeen. It was very hard to distract Clint though. He was rather alert with his surroundings and didn’t miss much. Tony and Steve tried helping me at one point but Clint looked around us and I knew then that he saw Adeen and Banner. He looked quite angry and started walking towards them. I didn’t see what the problem was. It was just a dance between friends…but then again…Bruce and Adeen did like each other lot… Mortal feelings are so confusing… I sighed heavily.  
NATASHA’S POV  
Pepper and I were watching Bruce and Adeen while they danced. They were so right together. They looked happy together and it seemed as if everything that happened had disappeared. I saw Adeen look back at us and give us a glare but you couldn’t really see the glare through her happiness. Pepper and I just smiled and waved in her direction. She rolled her eyes at us then looked away from us. What sounded like the song was about to end, I swore those two were about to kiss. Pepper was leaning on me trying to get a better view and almost jumped when she saw this. I looked over to the right and my smile vanished when I saw Clint walking towards them and interrupt them.   
Damn it, Clint…  
I saw Bruce walk away then stop and watch Clint and Adeen. He hid it well, but I could see the pain in his expression. He continued walking away then and stopped by the others before leaving the place completely. Clint was definitely going to get bitched out when we got back to the tower. I looked over to see Clint pull away from his kiss with Adeen. Adeen gently pushed him away and started walking away from him, anger was shown in her face. She walked over to Pepper and me with anger and sadness written all over her face.   
“Do you guys want to leave?” she tried to calmly say.  
“Sure, where do you want to go?” Pepper answered wrapping an arm around her shoulders.   
“Anywhere, but here.” Adeen answered, trying to hold back the tears she was hiding.  
Pepper and I both nodded and we walked out of there together. We walked past Clint on the way out and both Pepper and I gave him a dirty look. He looked confused and annoyed.  
Good, maybe he’ll learn not to be a jerk.


	14. Chapter 14

Adeen’s POV  
Since my apartment was almost completely destroyed from the battle, I was forced to reside with Stark and Pepper. I was perfectly fine with Pepper, she was one of my absolute best friends…but when you think about living under the same roof with Tony…you get this sudden urge to become a serial killer. He drove me insane most of the time, but ever since the benefit, he had been much more nicer to me. I felt I could rely on him more as a friend. It was a strange feeling after many endless years of ignoring him or lashing out on him. But anyway, I was glad the others were staying there as well and I’m glad Tony managed to convince Bruce to stay. I don’t think I could handle losing my best friend again. I was so happy when he announced to us he was staying. I’m pretty sure it didn’t please Clint all that much but Clint can deal with it. He’s been acting so strange lately as if I was going to leave him or something. Clint always got protective or clingy when I was around Buce. I had no idea why though. Bruce is my friend. We aren’t flirting or sleeping with each other. What did I have to do to prove to Clint nothing is going on between us?  
I sat by myself in the living room area reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, engrossed in the chapter I was reading. I heard footsteps coming my way and looked up to see Clint walking my way. I put my bookmark on the page I was at and closed my book putting it on the table in front of me. Clint slowly sat down beside me and took my hands in his. I was quite confused on what was going on. He hid his emotions well from me and that always frustrated me at times like this.   
“Clint, what’s wrong?” I asked softly, looking at him with a soft expression.  
“I have to go away for a mission for a while…” he answered quietly, finally meeting his eyes with mine.  
I was shocked to hear this and I became sad quickly. I always worried about him when he went away on missions. I usually went days or weeks without an insight on if he’s all right or if he was dead. I dropped my head, gazing down at my lap. I felt a gentle, calloused hand cup my chin and lift it up to face his face. His thumb gently stroked my cheek wiping something away. He smiled weakly down at me trying to make me feel better.  
“Please don’t cry, Addie…” he calmly told me. “I won’t be gone for long…”  
I hadn’t realized I was crying and quickly wiped the tears away.  
“You said that last time…and you ended up going missing…you have no idea…how much I worried about you…” I told him knowing I sounded so pathetic at the moment.   
“Sh…it’s all right…Nothing will happen…I will come back to you…and I will keep in contact this time…I promise…” he soothingly told me.   
Clint smiled lightly down at me, brushing my hair lightly out of my face with a gentle touch. He leaned down towards my face and kissed me sweetly upon my lips. I returned the kiss, slowly closing my eyes and wrapping my arms around his neck. His lips were soft on mine as he kissed me for a moment longer before slowly pulling away. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him, not wanting to let go. I closed my eyes tightly and rested my chin on his shoulder, tears streaming down my face. I just wanted to hold him until he had to let go and leave. I really didn’t want him to go. Clint kissed my cheek then forehead, rubbing my back in soft, gentle circles.   
“I have to go, Adeen…” he softly whispered into my ear, his hold around me not loosening.   
I tightened my grip around his neck and kept my eyes clenched shut. I didn’t want him to go so soon. I just wanted time to stand still so I could stay in his arms for a while longer. He slowly pulled away from the hug and took my hands in his and began to stand up. I rested my hand on his cheek and leaned up towards him, kissing him passionately on the lips before slowly pulling away.  
“I love you…” I softly told him, never taking my eyes off his.  
He smiled down at me, keeping his hand in mine.  
“I love you too…” he responded in a quiet voice.   
Clint slowly let my hand go and started walking toward the elevators. The doors opened in a slow eerie manner. He entered the lift and turned around and smiled at me. His smile brightened my spirits slightly as he winked at me and blew me a kiss as the doors closed before me leaving me lonely. I laid down on the couch and curled up into a ball, staring at the wall. My eyes slowly fluttered shut and I must have fallen asleep, but it was a dreamless sleep filled with darkness.


	15. Chapter 15

SHIELD Maximum Security Penitentiary (No One’s POV)  
An armed SHIELD agent walked through the quiet, empty hall. He was to watch over their number one, most dangerous convict who had killed thousands of people and had killed his wife, son, and youngest daughter. He was truly insane and had been locked in here for seven years now. He felt something run past him, feeling a breeze go by. He turned around to find no one there. As he turned back around, he flinched feeling something penetrate through his back. His eyes rolled to the back of his skull and he collapsed limply to the ground. There behind him stood a tall male with bright hazel eyes, short brown hair along with a muscular built body. He smirked darkly down at the agent bleeding out before him and chuckled darkly. He stepped over the body nonchalantly and began heading towards the holding cell at the end of the hall.   
“I’m in, sir…you’re in the clear.” He announced in a husky tenor, a light hint of a British accent in his tone.   
“Very good, Mr. Morgan…very good…”  
The door he had just come through opened again and a much older gentlemen began his journey down the hall. He passed the body and pool of blood as he continued walking. His jet black hair was in a buzz cut, graying at the temples. His brown-green eyes gazed straight ahead. His hands were behind his back and his shoulders were pulled back with perfect posture. He stopped by the first man and nodded his head.  
“You can open the door now, Rain…” the man told him in a gruff husky voice.  
Rain nodded and swiped the man’s card that he had just killed and the lock made a click, the door sliding open. Sitting up against the wall with their arms resting on their knees, was a man around the same age as the second man. He had the same jet black air, a dark beard consuming his chin and lower part of his face. He glanced up at the two with brown-green eyes that looked as though they could kill by just looking at them. The man standing over him smirked and chuckled darkly towering over him.  
“Why hello, brother…did you miss me?” he slyly greeted.  
“Thought you were never going to come actually, Marcus…” the man sitting on the ground answered in a gruff deep voice that made people’s skin crawl.   
“Oh, Leroy…You’ve got to have more faith in me…” Marcus responded in a sly tone helping him to his feet.   
Leroy stood up and brushed himself off before looking over at Rain with a smirk on his face.  
“Well, I see you brought the one good thing my daughter did with her life…”  
“I’m the only one who knows how to get in and out without being spotted.” He grabbed the two men by their arms and smirked. “Now, it’s time to flash out of here…”  
They suddenly disappeared, leaving the prison screaming out into the night as alarms rang through the skies. The agencies biggest fear had come into play. Leroy O’Sullivan had escaped prison, putting thousands of lives in danger and putting one specific life on the line-Adeen.

~The Avengers and Adeen will return for the sequel "When Love Goes Wrong" ~


End file.
